Megda Belkacemi
Lawyer
Key practice areas
Labour and Employment Law, Occupational Health and Safety, Labour Relations
Megda Belkacemi's practice focuses on labour and employment law. She advises and represents employers under both federal and provincial jurisdiction on a wide range of issues, including labour relations, certification, interpretation and application of collective agreements, labour standards, psychological harassment, workplace accidents, occupational diseases, occupational health and safety, and human rights and freedoms in both unionized and non-unionized environments. She also takes a keen interest in issues of pay equity and the application of the Charter of the French Language in the workplace.
Companies regularly turn to her for strategic advice on the employee-related aspects of business transactions, such as mergers, acquisitions, and corporate restructuring. Her municipal clients rely on her expertise on all labour relations matters involving unionized and non-unionized employees.
Megda represents her clients in a range of settings, including the Canada Industrial Relations Board, the Administrative Labour Tribunal, and grievance arbitrators. She also handles cases in civil courts, such as the Superior Court of Québec and the Québec Court of Appeal.
- Represented a municipality at a coroner's inquest into the death of an employee in the line of duty.
- Represented various private-sector companies in matters relating to the Charter of the French Language before the Office québécois de la langue française and the Administrative Tribunal of Québec.
- Represented various public and private sector employers in the management of employment injury cases.
- Helped a number of companies address pay equity issues, particularly in the context of corporate restructuring, mergers and acquisitions.
- Best Lawyers in Canada: Ones to Watch – Labour and Employment Law, 2024
- Canadian Bar Association, Member, since 2019
- Carnaval de Québec, Member of the Board of Directors, since 2025
- Québec Bar, Member of the Advisory Committee on Ethnocultural Diversity in the Profession, since 2022
- Atelier de préparation à l’Emploi (A.P.E.) inc., Member of the Board of Directors, 2020-2024
- Young Bar of Québec City:
- Member of the Professional Development Committee, 2020-2022
- Member, since 2014
- Québec Young Chambers of Commerce Association (RJCCQ), Member of the Labour Market Consultation Committee, 2021-2023
- Co-author: “Entrée en vigueur du nouveau Règlement sur les mécanismes de prévention et de participation en établissement : ce que les employeurs doivent savoir” [Coming into force of the new Regulation respecting prevention and participation mechanisms in an establishment: what employers need to know], Global Workspace Insider, October 3, 2025.
- Co-author: “Bill 101: A new omnibus bill on Quebec labour law”, May 13, 2025.
- Author: “Desperate times call for desperate measures: Creative and innovative orders to end systemic discrimination”, June 7, 2023.
- Co-author: “Amendments to the occupational health and safety regime coming into force this fall”, October 6, 2022.
- Author: “La constitutionnalité de la vaccination obligatoire imposée aux employés du secteur du transport maritime, ferroviaire et aérien sous juridiction fédéral” [The constitutionality of mandatory vaccination imposed on employees in the federally regulated shipping, rail and air transport sector], Global Workplace Insider, August 15, 2022.
- Author: “Surcharge de travail : La Cour d’appel se prononce sur la portée des pouvoirs de réparation des arbitres de grief” [Work overload: Court of Appeal rules on scope of grievance arbitrators’ remedial powers], Global Workplace Insider, March 18, 2022.
- Co-author: “Retrait préventif: la COVID-19 ne constitue pas un contaminant au sens de la LSST” [Preventive reassignment: COVID-19 does not constitute a contaminant within the meaning of the OHSA], Conseil du patronat du Québec, August 19, 2021.
- Author: “Télétravail obligatoire en contexte de pandémie : l’exception demeure les employés dont la présence est essentielle à la poursuite des activités de l’employeur” [Mandatory remote work during a pandemic: the exception remains employees whose presence is essential to the continuation of the employer’s operations], Global Workplace Insider, May 6, 2021.
- Author: “Update: Confinement reinstated in Quebec”, January 11, 2021.
- Author: “Confinement reinstated in Quebec: What employers need to know”, January 7, 2021.
- Co-author: “L’obligation d’accommodement raisonnable à la suite d’une fusion d’entreprises au Québec : du maintien du lien d’emploi à la sauvegarde des conditions de travail” [The duty to provide reasonable accommodation following a merger of companies in Quebec: from maintaining the employment relationship to safeguarding working conditions], Global Workplace Insider, November 18, 2020.
- Co-author: “Pistes de réflexion pour une transition vers le télétravail” [Points to consider for a transition to remote work], Proforma, Jeune Barreau de Québec, Vol. 85, June 2020.
- Author: “COVID-19 measures implemented by the Canadian and Quebec governments”, March 18, 2020.
- Author: “Criminal negligence causing death – Employer gets a stiff sentence”, Global Workplace Insider, February 7, 2020.
- Co-speaker: 2024 landmark decisions: Employment and labour law year in review, webinar, February 18, 2025.
- Co-speaker: Demystifying Bill 96: Adapting to An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec, webinar, July 6, 2022.
- Co-speaker: Modernization of the occupational health and safety regime, webinar, April 7, 2022.
- Co-speaker: Décisions marquantes à retenir pour les employeurs [Landmark decisions affecting employers], webinar, May 12, 2021.
- Co-speaker: La gestion des RH à l’ère de la COVID-19 [HR management in the COVID-19 era], webinar, April 7, 2020.
- Co-speaker: Dans la peau d’un gestionnaire RH [The HR manager’s perspective], webinar, March 11, 2020.
- Co-speaker: Le casse-tête de l’absentéisme au travail [The challenge of absenteeism at work], November 21, 2019.
LL.B., Université Laval, 2012