Description
Paule Veilleux focuses her practice on the areas covered by labour-law statutes such as the Act respecting occupational health and safety, the Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases, the Act respecting labour standards, the Employment Insurance Act, the Privacy Act and the Canadian and Quebec labour codes. She also negotiates labour agreements on behalf of employers.

She appears before all civil and administrative courts and tribunals, including the Court of Québec, the Superior Court and the Court of Appeal, at grievance arbitrations and before the labour commissioner of the Commission des lésions professionnelles (occupational injuries board) and the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (human rights & youth protection commission).

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,  lawsuits seeking damages for defamation and protection of sources.

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 & safety file management, and occupational health & 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 & safety issues.

Paule has published articles on occupational health & safety and labour law for specialized journals and is coauthor of the book Le harcèlement et les lésions psychologiques 2005 (Harassment and Psychological Trauma 2005). 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 writes for Éditions Thomson as a contributor to La Référence R.H., an online publication on labour & employment law. Paule is a member of the Executive committee and the partner in charge of the Québec City office of our firm.

Associations & Achievements
2009 - Member of the Québec Bar’s disciplinary committee

2004–2006 - Board member of Langlois Kronström Desjardins

1996–2000 - Board member of the Petit Séminaire de Québec Alumni Association

1990–1991 - Representative of Association des femmes de carrière de Québec at the Canadian Convention of Career Women held in British Columbia

1989–1990 - President of Association des femmes de carrière du Québec Métropolitain

1988–1994 - Member of Association des femmes de carrière de Québec


Presentations & Conferences
2010 - "Impact of a criminal record on employment", Langlois Kronström Desjardins.

2006–2007 - "Obligations Regarding Reasonable Accommodation", to human resources managers in Québec City, Montréal and Drummondville

2004– 2008 - "Psychological Harassment", to human resources managers in Québec City, Montréal and Drummondville

2004–2005 - "Penal Liability of Directors", to human resources managers in Québec City, Montréal and Drummondville

2002–2004 - "Industrial Accident Management", to human resources managers in Québec City, Montréal and Drummondville

2003 and 2007 - "Managing Penal Infractions Under the Forestry Act", Québec City, Baie-Comeau, Senneterre

1998 - "Paroviruses and Preventive Leave for Pregnant Women", to Québec Bar members and education network managers of the Fédération des commissions scolaires, Québec City and Montréal

1996 - "Using Injunctions to Reinstate Employees", Canadian Institute

Publications
2005 - Bernard Cliche, Paule Veilleux, François Bouchard, Catherine Houpert, Éric Latulippe, Isabelle Cormier, Marie-Pierre Raymond. Le harcèlement et les lésions psychologiques (Harassment and Psychological Trauma), Cowansville: Éditions Yvon Blais Inc., 364 pages

Les parvovirus et le retrait de la travailleuse enceinte (Paroviruses and Preventive Leave for Pregnant Women), Revue du Barreau du Québec, under Les développements récents

Labour & employment case-law analysis for La Référence R.H., an online publication of Éditions Thomson

Representative mandates
Medical Specialists’ Right of Association
Paule Veilleux was a member of the team of lawyers who submitted a motion for a declaratory judgment concerning medical specialists’ right of association in Québec, a case that led to the Health Services ruling.

Independence and Impartiality
Paule Veilleux made certain representations to the Superior Court and the Court of Appeal for Commission d’appel en matière de lésions professionnelles concerning the independence and impartiality of the CALP commissioners, better known as the Montambault case.

Religious Freedom
At the Commission des relations de travail, Paule Veilleux also obtained a declaration of inoperability and noninvocability 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.

Freedom of Expression
Together with a colleague, Paule Veilleux 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 ten years, Paule Veilleux has represented the mediators at 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.

Challenge to Guilty Verdict
Paule Veilleux 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
Paule Veilleux acted as co-litigant in the coroner’s inquest into the events leading to the multiple car accident on Highway 20. She represented engineers at Ministère des Transports and also pled before the disciplinary committee regarding these events. 

Criminal Offenses
Paule Veilleux handles all criminal offenses brought against a large paper company throughout the province under the Forest Act.