Heenan Blaikie maintains the pre-eminent labour and employment law practice in Canada, with more than 110 lawyers providing distinguished services to a wide range of clients at the provincial, national, continental and international levels.

Provincial

Heenan Blaikie represents employers in a broad range of sectors including universities, hospitals, school boards, financial services, retail, construction, agriculture, manufacturing, mining and transportation. We are actively involved in several employers' organizations and regularly chair and speak at conferences on topics of interest to provincially-regulated employers. We are often called upon to work with government and employers in the design and implementation of provincial labour and employment legislation throughout Canada.

National

Heenan Blaikie represents many of Canada's largest employers in undertakings that form the country's airline, telecommunications, broadcasting, banking, trucking and energy infrastructure. Heenan Blaikie's dominance at the federal level, on behalf of the employer community, involves its lawyers in the leading issues and trends that shape the changing Canadian labour and employment landscape. We play an instrumental role in organizing conferences dedicated to federal sector employers. We are also involved in the activities of the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association.

Continental

Heenan Blaikie acts for many prominent U.S. and other multi-national corporations that require specialized advice and representation in adapting their human resources strategies to the Canadian environment. Our efforts to understand and respond to the needs of these clients are demonstrated through the firm’s involvement in many U.S. legal and human resources associations, such as the American Bar Association, the Society for Human Resource Management, and the Association of Corporate Counsel. Our lawyers have authored definitive texts for U.S. companies doing business in Canada: Canadian Labour and Employment Law for the U.S. Practitioner (BNA Books) and More Questions Frequently Asked in Québec Labour & Employment Law, the 2005 follow-up to 14 Questions Frequently Asked in Québec Labour & Employment Law (Carswell). We recognize the importance of a continental perspective in serving our clients from the U.S. Several of our lawyers are recognized by their peers as the best in the country and are featured in the Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada published annually by Lexpert/American Lawyer Media.

International

Heenan Blaikie is counsel to the Canadian Employers Council, the representative of Canadian employers at the International Labour Organization (ILO). In this capacity, Heenan Blaikie is involved in global events such as the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) process. Lawyers at Heenan Blaikie have acted as delegates to the ILO, participated in the Summit of the Americas process and, on an annual basis, organize an International Labour Law Conference held in London, Ontario. Several of our lawyers are recognized internationally and are featured in the Guide to the World’s Leading Labour and Employment Lawyers published annually by the Euromoney Legal Media Group.

In addition, Heenan Blaikie is the Canadian member of the National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network (NWCDN), an organization of independent law firms in the United States and Canada with an established workers’ compensation practice and experience in defending employers and insurance companies in workers’ compensation and related actions. Member firms are committed to providing quality representation and information to employers and insurers.

We offer our clients the latest information on legislative changes and training in all aspects of labour and employment law, as well as through well reasoned and timely advice in all of the following areas:

• Collective Agreement Negotiation
• Compensation & Benefits
• Education
• Employment Standards
• Grievance Arbitration
• Health
• Human Rights
• Immigration
• Labour Relations Board Proceedings
• Occupational Health & Safety
• Pay Equity
• Pension Law & Governance
• Privacy
• Strategic Workforce Planning
• Workers’ Compensation

Please have a look at our Pension and Benefits Law brochure, that provides an overview of our activity in this area.