
Paule Veilleux
Lawyer, Partner - Quebec City
Paule Veilleux focuses her practice on the areas covered by labour-law statutes such as the Canadian and Quebec labour codes, the Act respecting occupational health and safety, the Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases, the Act respecting labour standards and the Employment Insurance Act, the Privacy Act. She also negotiates labour agreements on behalf of employers.
Paule is also involved in administrative and constitutional litigation, especially where the Canadian and Quebec human rights charters are concerned. In addition, she represents a variety of print and electronic media concerns in matters involving freedom of the press, protection of sources and claims for damages for defamation.
She has also participated in several mediations in human rights commission files involving issues of discrimination based on handicap, age and gender.
Paule appears before all levels of the civil courts and administrative tribunals including the Court of Québec, the Quebec Superior Court and Court of Appeal, the Administrative Labour Tribunal (ALT) and the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse, Quebec’s human rights and youth rights tribunal.
A member of the Canadian Bar Association, Paule frequently speaks at conferences on a variety of topics including psychological harassment, reasonable accommodation, disciplinary records management, occupational health and safety file management, and occupational health and safety funding. She has been a conference presenter for the Quebec Bar, the Canadian Institute and the Fédération des commissions scolaires du Québec (Quebec school boards federation) on labour relations and occupational health and safety issues and on issues involving the federal and provincial charters of rights.
She has also published articles on occupational health and safety and labour law for specialized journals and is coauthor of the second edition of the book Le harcèlement et les lésions psychologiques (Harassment and Psychological Trauma). She edited the chapter on the dismissal of public service managers in the book entitled Règlement sur certaines conditions de travail applicables aux cadres des agences et des établissements de santé et de services sociaux annoté, a book on the law applicable to employment conditions of executives in health and social services agencies written by Mr. Eugène Abarrategui and published in 2007.
She also sits on the Canadian Judicial Council Inquiry Committee reviewing the conduct of the Honourable Michel Girouard, S.C.J.
She is also a regular contributor to the online labour and employment law publication La référence RH published by Thomson Reuters.
Education
1985 – LL. B., Civil Law, Laval University
Rankings & Recognitions
Areas of Practice
Industries
Representative Work
Right of association of medical specialists
Paule was a member of the team of lawyers who submitted a motion for a declaratory judgment concerning medical specialists’ right of association in Québec. She also represented the association of mid-level managers in the Quebec health and social services network in connection with a motion for a declaratory judgment recognizing the managers’ right of association and annulling the regulation modifying their conditions of employment.
Independence and impartiality
She made representations to the Superior Court and the Court of Appeal on behalf of the Commission d’appel en matière de lésions professionnelles concerning the independence and impartiality of the CALP commissioners, better known as the Montambault case. She also represented the intervenor, the Association des commissaires de la Commission des relations du travail, on issues pertaining to judicial independence in the matter of AJACLP v. Procureur général du Québec.
Freedom of religion
At the Commission des relations de travail (TAT), she also obtained a declaration of inoperability and non-invocability for section 7 of the Organization and Management of Institutions Regulation and sections 3 and 4 of the bylaw regarding the provision of pastoral services at Hôpital Laval, which bases the right to employment on the religious nature of the institution.
Handicap
On the basis of her representations, the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal recognized that visual acuity is a justifiable professional requirement for employment as an industrial electrician.
Freedom of expression
Together with a colleague, she represented major Québec media and succeeded in having Section 487.2 of the Criminal Code declared null, void, and inoperable by the Superior Court and the Court of Appeal.
Mediator confidentiality
For the past 10 years, she has represented the mediators at the Commission des lésions professionnelles before all judicial bodies in cases where mediator confidentiality has been attacked by the parties in the case or by third persons.
Disqualification for public office
On behalf of a school board, Paule obtained a declaration that parents were not qualified to sit on an advisory board on services for handicapped pupils and pupils with learning and adjustment difficulties.
Challenge to guilty verdict
She also acted for MENVIQ in the dismissal of a senior public servant in which over 25 legal proceedings were brought by the claimant to Commission de l’accès à l’information, Commission de la fonction publique, the Superior Court, and the Court of Appeal. This case mainly concerned a challenge, as part of the dismissal complaint, to the guilty verdict by a senior government official in the wake of the City of Toronto decision.
Coroner’s inquest
She acted as co-counsel in the coroner’s inquest into the events leading to the multiple car accident on Highway 20. She represented engineers at the Ministère des Transports and also pled before the disciplinary committee regarding these events.
Penal offenses
She represents a major forest-products company in a matter involving the Sustainable Forest Development Act.
Publications
Articles
- 2019 – Work-Related Emails and Union Messaging: Are They Compatible?
- 2019 – No Double Compensation During the Summer for Teachers Entitled to Income Replacement Benefits
- 2016 – Adapting to New Communications Tools in the Workplace
- 2014 – Alcohol and Drug Abuse – Irving
- 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
Books
Other Publications
2022 – « Le droit du travail du Québec », 8e édition, Éditions Yvon Blais
2005 – Coauthor, Le harcèlement et les lésions psychologiques (Harassment and Psychological Trauma), Les Éditions Yvon Blais, 364 pages.
Les parvovirus et le retrait de la travailleuse enceinte (Parvoviruses and Preventive Leave for Pregnant Women), Revue du Barreau du Québec, under Les développements récents.
Labour and employment case-law analysis for La Référence R.H., an online publication of Éditions Thomson.
