Employment Law Conference 2025: Day 2

Course Chairs
Valerie Dixon (she/her) — City of Vancouver, Vancouver
James D. Kondopulos (he/him) — Roper Greyell LLP, Vancouver

About the Course Chairs
Valerie Dixon is a lawyer in the City of Vancouver's Law Department and practices exclusively in the areas of labour, employment, and human rights. Prior to joining the City, Valerie spent 14 years in private practice, first at Clark Wilson LLP and later at Miller Thomson LLP.

Valerie has acted for a variety of employers, unionized and non-unionized, from small businesses to international corporations, health authorities, and municipalities. In addition to appearances before all levels of court in BC, Valerie has acted as counsel in the Supreme Court of Canada, and represented clients before various administrative tribunals.

James Kondopulos is a founding member and partner (practising through a law corporation) at the employment and labour law boutique of Roper Greyell LLP. He is frequently recommended as a strong advocate and has represented employers and senior employees before all levels of court and a wide range of workplace-related administrative tribunals in BC.

James was named one of Canada's leading lawyers under 40 by L'expert. He is ranked as a leading employment lawyer in the Canadian Legal L'expert Directory. He has been recognized repeatedly as a leader in the area of employment and labour law and is listed in Chambers Canada, Best Lawyers International, and Who's Who Legal, Labour, Employment and Benefits.

James spends most of his time outside work with his wife and their three beautiful children. He is a director of the Chartered Professionals in Human Resources of BC & Yukon and is a past director and vice-chair of the children's charity, Make-A-Wish BC & Yukon.

Planning Committee
Anita Atwal (she/her) — Anita Atwal Law Corporation, Surrey
Matthew Cooperwilliams (he/him) — Cooperwilliams, Truman & Ito LLP, Vancouver
Colin J. Edstrom (he/him) — Harris & Company LLP, Kelowna
Amy Frankel (she/her) — Forte Workplace Law, Surrey
Richard B. Johnson (he/him)— Ascent Employment Law Corporation, Vancouver
Jennifer Kwok (she/her) — Overholt Law LLP, Vancouver
Lia Moody (she/her) — HHBG Lawyers, Vancouver
Donovan G. Plomp (he/him) — McCarthy Tetrault LLP, Vancouver
Supriya Routh (he/him) — Associate Dean, Equity Diversity and Inclusion, Peter A. Allard School of Law, UBC, Vancouver
Leanne M. Walsh (she/her) — West Coast Workplace Law, Richmond

Faculty
Anita Atwal (she/her) — Anita Atwal Law Corporation, Surrey
Maggie Campbell (she/her) — Roper Greyell LLP, Vancouver
Sebastian Chern (he/him) — Ascent Employment Law Corporation, Vancouver
Brooke Finkelstein (she/her) — West Coast Workplace Law, Richmond
Micah Goldberg (he/him) — Watson Goepel LLP, Vancouver
Johanna Goosen (she/her) — Acting Director of Litigation, WorkSafeBC, Richmond
Kirsten Hume Scrimshaw (she/her) — Ally Workplace Law, North Vancouver 
Eric Ito (he/him) — Cooperwilliams Truman & Ito LLP, Vancouver
Eleni Kassaris (she/her) — Dentons Canada LLP, Vancouver
Fiona McFarlane (she/her) — Kane Shannon & Weiler LLP, Surrey
Nazeer T. Mitha, KC (he/him) — Mitha Law Corporation, Vancouver 
Dallan Poulin (he/him) — Roper Greyell LLP, Vancouver 
Spencer Sloane (he/him) — Tevlin Gleadle Curtis Employment Law Strategies, Vancouver
Sean Tevlin (he/him) — Tevlin Gleadle Curtis Employment Law Strategies, Vancouver
Brittany Therrien (she/her) — Roper Greyell LLP, Vancouver 
Salim Visram (he/him) — Dentons Canada LLP, Vancouver
Leanne M. Walsh (she/her) — West Coast Workplace Law, Richmond 
Cameron R. Wardell (he/him) — Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark LLP, Vancouver
Fred Wynne (he/him) — Tevlin Gleadle Curtis Employment Law Strategies, Vancouver

Course Materials Contributor
Rachel Akinyemi (she/her) — Dentons Canada LLP, Vancouver

• developments in the law with respect to unions and wrongful dismissal claims
  • the "Weber" analysis
  • the "Viking" test in the context of "vague" collective agreements
• developments in the law regarding personal injury claims and WCAT
  • the distinction between injury claims and punitive damages claims
  • a judge's discretion, and s. 311 Applications under the Workers' Compensation Act
• jurisdiction and territorial competence:
  • striking claims based on jurisdictional competence may mirror territorial competence: the evidentiary threshold is "not high"
  • the effect of these developments on pre-trial applications 

• update on how restrictive covenants in BC employment contracts been addressed, especially given recent amendments to Ontario’s Employment Standards Act
• when are restrictive covenants valid (what geographical/temporal scope has been found to be reasonable and why)
• how damages are assessed for breach of a non-competition or non-solicitation covenant

• liability for defamation arising from negative job references
• requirements to establish qualified privilege
• limits on qualified privilege when a reference is not listed by the candidate
• impact of informal references on defamation liability
• defining malice in the context of negative job references
• employer obligations when responding to reference requests

• key cases
• analysis and trends
• effects on practice