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CCCA_V5No1_ManageRisk-FIN.qxd:CCCA_V1No1_DriversSeat-FIN.qxd 2/2/11 3:19 PM Page 29 Inside tips: How to succeed in-house The people business Employees might be your company’s greatest asset, but managing them can be a legal minefield.A proactive approach keeps problems from exploding, saving time and money. F ew areas are as unpredictable for new in-house counsel as employment law. What is the appropriate response, for instance, when an employee refers to his manager as a jackass on his personal Facebook page? How rigorously can an employer enforce attendance management policies without being accused of discrimination on the basis of disability? What are the best practices to avoid wrongful dismissal suits, challenges from irate pen- sioners over benefit reductions or cries of foul from competitors when you recruit their top talent? One of the key functions of corporate counsel is to minimize and mitigate risk. But with employment standards varying between jurisdictions and case law rapidly evolv- ing with respect to employee human rights and privacy issues,the human resources field can easily become a legal minefield in the absence of careful oversight by in-house counsel. Corporations can save themselves a lot of grief — and litigation — by taking a proactive and preventative approach to HR issues, advises Terence Badour, executive vice-president, law and administration, at Fairmont-Raffles Hotels International. “If you don’t get it right up front, it just leads to a more expensive solution afterward,” Badour said in a recent interview at the chain’sToronto headquarters, where a small team of in-house lawyers provides counsel on the full range of legal issues that might arise at Fairmont-Raffles, which employs 43,000 employees at 130 hotels in 30 countries. HR commands about 25 per cent of the in-house lawyers’ time at Fairmont-Raffles because the hotel business is a people business, the company is rapidly expanding, and the issues are so complex. “It starts right at the front end,”Badour said.“The key for us is hiring.If the hiring is done right, the risks really are minimized significantly.” PAUL EEKHOFF By Virginia Galt PRINTEMPS 2011 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association 29