
Catherine Galardo
Lawyer, Partner - Montréal
Catherine Galardo, CHRP, is a partner in the Montréal office of Langlois Lawyers and she is also a member of the firm’s Board of Directors. She practices primarily in the areas of labour and employment law and administrative law. Frequently involved in files involving both unionized and non-unionized employees, she has a varied clientele that includes several Quebec school boards.
In addition to negotiating collective agreements, Catherine advises businesses and organizations on a range of issues such as the interpretation and application of collective agreements, the imposition of disciplinary sanctions, handling psychological harassment complaints, drafting and applying employment agreements and dealing with claims for dismissal without cause. She also deals with human rights issues and conducts investigations into psychological harassment allegations.
She represents clients on a regular basis before grievance arbitrators and administrative tribunals such as the Administrative Labour Tribunal (ALT). She also appears before the courts in litigation files involving employment and labour matters.
In 2015 Catherine participated in the initial committee on the remuneration of criminal and penal prosecuting attorneys in Quebec, struck pursuant to the Act Respecting the Process for Determining the Remuneration of Criminal and Penal Prosecuting Attorneys and Respecting their Collective Bargaining Plan.
As Catherine is also a certified human resources professional, she is frequently called upon for strategic advice on organizational issues.
Education
2004 – Degree in Civil Law, McGill University
2004 – Degree in Common Law, McGill University
Rankings & Recognitions
Areas of Practice
Industries
Representative Work
Employment Law – Senior Executive
Successfully defended a major financial institution against a claim for constructive dismissal that called into question the institution’s respect for the applicable legal rules and the soundness of its corporate governance (currently under appeal).
Human Rights and Freedoms – Supreme Court of Canada – Pro Bono
Represented the Young Bar Association of Montreal as an Intervener before the Supreme Court of Canada in the matter of McCormick v. Fasken Martineau DuMoulin, [2014] 2 S.C.R. 108, in the context of a pro bono mandate. That case dealt with mandatory retirements policies in the legal profession and alleged discrimination and infringements to Human Rights principles in accordance with the law of British Columbia and globally.
Publications
Articles
- 2019 – Reminder to Employers: New Labour Standards Came into Force on January 1, 2019
- 2018 – The Die Is Cast Regarding the Freedom of Association of Management Personnel of the Société des Casinos du Québec
- 2017 – Harassment Complaints: Top 5 Pieces of Advice for Employers
- 2016 – Filing Evidence From an Occupational Injury File Into the Record of a Claim for Psychological Harassment: Can It Be Done?
- 2016 – Work Life Balance: Do Employers Have a Duty to Accommodate?
- 2013 – Social Networks, Defamation and Privacy: Internet Provides No Immunity
- 2013 – Can an Employer Use for its Own Purposes the Information Stored in its Employee’s Personal Email Box?
News
- 2013 – Three New Partners
Other Publications
2022 – “Le droit du travail du Québec“, 8e édition, Éditions Yvon Blais
2016 – “Action collective – Risques et solutions RH” (“Class Actions – HR Risks and Answers”), co-authored with Vincent de l’Étoile, Revue RH (CRHA-CRIA), Volume 19, No 1, Janvier-Février-Mars 2016, p. 44.
2010 – Wrote “L’utilisation d’Internet en milieu de travail” in collaboration with Me Martine Bergeron, VigieRT, No 47, April 2010
2007 – Contributed to the article Les antécédents judiciaires des employés du milieu scolaire (Criminal Records of Employees in the Education Sector) in Développements récents en droit du travail en éducation, Éditions Yvon Blais, pp. 161–211
2005 – Wrote a legal bulletin entitled Le régime québécois de l’assurance parentale entre en vigueur le 1er janvier 2006 (The Québec Parental Insurance Plan Comes Into Effect on January 1, 2006)
2003 – Helped research and write Dictionnaire de droit privé et lexiques bilingues sur les Obligations (A Dictionary of Private Law and Bilingual Glossaries on Obligations) in conjunction with the Quebec Research Centre of Private and Comparative Law, 3rd edition, Éditions Yvon Blais
