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CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE MARCH 2016
W
hen you are general counsel and corporate secretary for a large staffi ng
company, the current legislative landscape in Ontario can look a little
daunting, as Lara Speirs knows all too well.
Speirs took on the role of Randstad Canada's fi rst general counsel two
and a half years ago. Randstad Canada is a staffi ng, recruitment, and HR services company
with 85 branches across seven provinces in Canada.
Apart from the day-to-day challenges of running a large organization's legal department,
Speirs sees two areas dominating her focus right now. The fi rst, she says, is the need for
strong employer-side responses to Ontario's review of the changing nature of the workplace,
which may include possible recommendations to amend employment standards legislation,
particularly as it concerns temporary workers.
Shortly, the special advisers mandated to review the fi le will be releasing their interim
report. Speirs is seeking to establish a stronger voice, along with trade associations and
employer organizations, to help clarify what she calls some misconceptions about the tem-
porary workforce and to educate on the benefi ts that fl exible work arrangements afford
both the general economy and temporary employees themselves. "Temporary employees
in Ontario already enjoy legislative protections that signifi cantly exceed those found in any
other Canadian jurisdiction," Speirs says. "Any further legislative reform will likely un-
NAVIGATING THE
LEGISLATIVE AND
REGULATORY
LANDSCAPE
In-house counsel in Ontario
face a variety of changes
in law as old legislation is
updated and new laws
are introduced.
BY JENNIFER BROWN
ONTARIO REPORT
