Sarto Veilleux

 Partner, Mediator
Key practice areas
Labour Relations, Labour and Employment Law, Public and Administrative Law, Strategic HR Advice, Employment Law
Québec Bar 1995
Québec City
+1 418 650 7911
sarto.veilleux@langlois.ca
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For more than 25 years, Sarto Veilleux has focused his practice on all aspects of labour, employment and administrative law. His clientele hails from all across Québec and consists of private- and public-sector employers under federal or provincial jurisdiction, in both unionized and non-unionized settings.

Sarto leverages his specialized expertise to provide his vast client base with consulting services and legal opinions. He manages and pleads a variety of files involving, for example, administrative and disciplinary management, termination of employment and psychological harassment. He also acts regularly in cases dealing with union certification, collective bargaining and grievance arbitration, and drafts individual employment contracts, employee manuals and a variety of administrative policies.

In addition, Sarto frequently advises and represents employers in connection with grievance arbitrations, complaints to the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST) and the Administrative Labour Tribunal (ALT), strikes and other labour disputes, union pressure tactics and maintaining essential services. He appears before civil courts and administrative tribunals in connection with suits, claims and complaints involving labour laws, charter rights and administrative law.

Sarto is known for his keen legal and advocacy skills, and has a knack for considering all the different stakes (financial, business, human and political) in the mandates entrusted to him. When it comes to choosing a top legal advisor, his clients greatly appreciate his practical approach, his ability to lead complex cases, and his negotiation and mediation skills.

Sarto taught labour and employment law at the Québec City Bar School and the Lévis campus of the UQAR (Université du Québec à Rimouski). Since then, he has been speaking at various conferences and provides training to clients, associations and HR associations.

  • Successfully represented a city in a major arbitration of disputes in the police sector.
  • Successfully pleaded the first case of dismissal of a police officer under section 119 of the Police Act before the Supreme Court of Canada.
  • Represented a municipal housing bureau (OMH) in connection with the renewal of the collective agreement with its employees for the period 2021-2026.
  • Represented the Société de transport de Lévis in connection with the renewal of the collective agreement with its employees for the period 2022-2027.
  • Represented the RTC in connection with the renewal of the collective agreement with its employees for the period 2022-2027.
  • For the government of Québec, successfully performed a mixed mandate of negotiation and dispute arbitration with the special constables of Québec.
  • Advises and represents the government of Québec, its ministries and bodies in connection with several complex mandates involving labour and employment law.
  • Québec City Bar School, Lecturer on labour and employment law, 2007-2010
  • Lévis Chamber of Commerce, Member of the Board of Directors, 2006-2009
  • Travail-Jeunesse in Lévis, Member of the Board of Directors, 2005-2017
  • Co-speaker: Workshop on Bill 25 and immigration presented to the Table RH Montmagny-L’Islet, December 14, 2023.
  • Co-speaker: Réforme du régime de santé et de sécurité du travail [Reform of the occupational health and safety regime], workshop given to the Québec Urban Transit Association (ATUQ), February 1, 2022.
  • Co-speaker: Les enjeux du télétravail post-pandémie : concilier volonté et réalité [The challenges of remote work after the pandemic: Reconciling will and reality], Langlois Knowledge, June 29, 2021.
  • Co-speaker: La rareté de la main-d’œuvre et la rétention du personnel âgé : défis, réflexions et bonnes pratiques [Workforce shortage and retaining mature staff: challenges, considerations and best practice], Langlois Knowledge, webinar, February 11, 2021.
  • Co-speaker: Workshop on teleworking issues recognized by the Order of certified human resources professionals, given to the Table RH Montmagny-L’Islet, April 22, 2021.
  • Co-speaker: Décisions marquantes en droit du travail [Landmark decisions in labour law], Québec Mining Association, webinar, October 7, 2020.
  • Speaker: Drogue et alcool en milieu de travail [Drugs and alcohol in the workplace], organized by the Comité sectoriel de main-d’œuvre de l’industrie maritime (CSMOIM) and the St. Lawrence Economic Development Council (SODES), webinar, June 4, 2020.
  • Co-speaker: Les meilleures pratiques d’une gestion efficace des employés difficiles [Best practices for effective management of difficult employees], as part of the Colloque 2019 – Droit du travail et de l’emploi : composer avec des personnalités atypiques, Langlois Knowledge, Québec City, February 27, 2019.
  • Speaker: Agilité des interventions administratives et disciplinaire [Administrative and disciplinary procedural agility], as part of the HR symposium: Notre impact sur le monde, Order of certified human resources professionals, Québec City, October 8-9, 2019.
  • Co-speaker: Vivre une syndicalisation : savoir la prévenir, conjuguer avec un syndicat et même en tirer parti [Dealing with a campaign for union certification: How to prevent it, or how to come to terms with and even benefit from it], as part of the workshop series Labour and Employment Law 2018, Langlois Knowledge, Québec City, October 18, 2018.
  • Speaker: La gestion des dépendances [Managing Addiction Issues], as part of the workshop series Labour and Employment Law 2018, Langlois Knowledge, Québec City, September 27, 2018.
  • Speaker: Le cannabis et les relations de travail [Cannabis and labour relations], presentation to the Association des manufacturiers de palettes et contenants du Québec (AMPCQ), 2018.
  • Speaker: La fin d’emploi [Termination of employment], as part of the Colloque de droit du travail et de l’emploi : 360o de l'emploi, Langlois Knowledge, Québec City, February 21, 2017.
  • Speaker : Déjeuner-conférence : Les relations de travail à l’ère du 2.0 [Lunch conference: Labour relations in the 2.0 era], Langlois Knowledge in collaboration with Groupe Perspective, Québec City, May 17, 2016.
  • Co-speaker: Les grands arrêts de l'année 2015 and La perte de compétence des salariés plus âgées [The great judgments of 2015 and The loss of expertise of older employees], as part of the Colloque de droit du travail et de l’emploi : le choc des générations sur le marché du travail, Langlois Knowledge, Québec City, February 9, 2016.
  • Speaker:  La rupture du lien d’emploi : comment et à quel coût [The breach of the employment relationship: How and how costly], Colloque Proxim, Lévis, September 20, 2016, and Boucherville, September 27, 2016.
  • Co-speaker: La gestion de vos employés problématiques non syndiqués [Managing your troublesome non-unionized employees], as part of the Journée de formation pour entrepreneurs généraux à Saguenay, Langlois Knowledge, Jonquière, December 10, 2015.
  • Speaker: Obligation de loyauté du salarié et la liberté d’expression [Employees’ duty of loyalty and freedom of expression], Chambre de commerce de Montmagny, 2015.
  • Speaker: La limite entre le droit de gérance et le harcèlement psychologique [The line between the employer’s management right and psychological harassment], Chambre de commerce de Montmagny, 2015.
  • Speaker: Droits et recours de l’officier municipal [The rights and recourses of municipal officials], Québec Association of Municipal Managers, 2014.
  • Moderator of annual HR roundtables.

Professional training certificate in negotiation, Paris Bar, 2014

Mediation in labour, civil and commercial matters, Québec Bar, 2013

Advocacy skills, Québec Bar, 1998

LL.B., Civil Law, Université Laval, 1994

Featured Articles

Workshops and conferences
June 29th, 2021

Langlois Knowledge | The challenges of remote work after the pandemic
On June 29, Langlois Employment and Labour lawyer and partner Sarto Veilleux and lawyer Raphaëlle Renzo-Gaudet presented a webinar on the challenges of remote work after the pandemic. If you weren’t able to attend this or previous events and would like to know more about upcoming workshops, click here. Read more in this article:The challenges of […]
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Publications
June 16th, 2021

The challenges of remote work after the pandemic
This article first appeared in French in the June 2021 issue of the Journal des Parcs industriels of the Corporation des parcs industriels du Québec. At the current vaccination rate, the imminent lifting of restrictions, including those requiring remote work, is a real possibility. Several legitimate questions will then arise for employers. Here are some […]
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Workshops and conferences
February 11th, 2021

Workforce shortage and retaining mature staff: challenges, considerations and best practice
On February 11th, Langlois labour and employment lawyer Jonathan Garneau, CHRP and partner Sarto Veilleux, presented a webinar on Québec businesses’ labour shortages. They suggested possible solutions include retaining mature staff. Organizational agility, the legal outcomes of adapting managerial style and overseeing disciplinary matters of a workforce over 50 were some of the topics presented. […]
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Workshops and conferences
June 1st, 2020

Sarto Veilleux to present a web conference on “Drugs and alcohol in the workplace”
On June 4th, lawyer, partner and mediator Sarto Veilleux, who specializes in labour and employment law, has been invited to present a web conference on the use of drugs and alcohol in the workplace. The invitation comes from the Human Resources Sectorial Committee on the Maritime Industry (CSMOIM) and the Société de développement économique du […]
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Publications
June 9th, 2017

St. John the Baptist Day – a Primer on Employers’ Obligations
Summer is at hand (almost) and summer vacations as well. Every year at this time, employers become concerned about their obligations in connection with the St. John the Baptist Day National Holiday. The Quebec legislator considers this statutory holiday to be very important and it is governed by a specific statute, namely the National Holiday Act, with stricter […]
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