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Giovanna Di Sauro 2

Giovanna Di Sauro

She/HerAssociate
About

Giovanna advises clients in all areas of employment and labour law. Working within both the private and public sectors, she provides strategic and practical advice to both unionized and non-unionized employers. 

Giovanna routinely drafts and reviews employment contracts and policies, assists clients in responding and managing discrimination claims and complex accommodations, and advises clients in their handling of workplace harassment complaints and investigations. She also assists unionized clients with the negotiation and administration of collective agreements. 

Giovanna has appeared before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the Ontario Labour Relations Board, the Ontario Court of Justice, the Superior Court of Justice, the Divisional Court, and the Court of Appeal for Ontario. She also successfully opposed a leave to appeal application to the Supreme Court of Canada in a constitutional and labour law matter. 

As a member of the Ontario Bar Association and the Canadian Association of Counsel to Employers, Giovanna is actively involved in the legal community and regularly speaks at, moderates or chairs seminars and workshops with a focus on human rights, employment law, and equity, diversity & inclusion issues. 

 
Bar admissionsOntario, 2015
Languages
  • English
  • Italian
Education
  • J.D.,  Queens University, 2014
  • Simon Fraser University, Bachelor of Science (Honours), Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, 2008

Awards

Best Lawyers Canada, (Labour and Employment Law), Ones to Watch, 2024-2025

Publications

  • COVID-19: Vaccination in the Workplace, Practical Guidance, (LexisNexis: February 28, 2023)  
  • What's in a Pronoun? Two human rights tribunals find that misgendering in the workplace amounts to discrimination in employment, (Ontario Bar Association: November 14, 2021) (with Tamara J. Sylvester and Nicky Kim)
  • Ontario Human Rights Code: Quick Reference (Carswell: 2021) (with J. Knight, M. McNaught, A. Brown and E. La Mantia)
  • Staving Off Duplicative And Statute-Barred Proceedings: Guidance From The HRTO And WSIAT (Mondaq: November 2019)
  • Dismissal following lengthy unauthorized absence not discriminatory (Canadian Employment Law Today: 2019)
  • Ontario Pay Transparency Update (Mondaq: March 2019)
  • Ontario Legislature Tables Two New Human Rights Bills (Mondaq: November 2018)
  • Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario Holds Benefits “Carve-out” Provision Affecting Employees Aged 65 or Older Unconstitutional (OBA’s Education Law Section: October 2018)
  • Tribunal finds requirement for permanent eligibility to work in Canada discriminatory (The Lawyer’s Daily: September 2018)
  • Ontario Targets Wage Gap between Men and Women with New Pay Transparency Act, 2018 (Mondaq: July 2018)
  • Ontario Court Upholds School Board’s Decision to Deny Permission to Remove Children from Class to Avoid “False Teachings”, Dismisses Charter Breach Claim (OBA’s Education Law Section: January 2017)
  • Bakul I Dalal, Soudeh Mansoor, Mita Manna, Steven Pi, Giovanna Di Sauro, Donna E Hogge, Detection of CD34, TdT, CD56, CD2, CD4, and CD14 by Flow Cytometry Is Associated With NPM1 and FLT3 Mutation Status in Cytogenetically Normal Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Clinical Lymphoma Myeloma and Leukemia 2012; 12:4, 274-279.

Seminars

  • Panelist, “Hot Topics in Human Rights” Panel at the 20th Annual Conference of the Canadian Association of Counsel to Employers, September 22, 2023
  • Co-Presenter, "The Eight-Minute Labour Lawyer 2023", Law Society of Ontario, June 22, 2023
  • Program Co-Chair, "Case law update: Treatment of trans, two-spirit, and non-binary adults and youth", The Canadian Bar Association, June 13, 2023
  • Moderator, "Addressing Systemic Wage Discrimination in the Workplace," Annual Update on Human Rights Law, Ontario Bar Association, May 25, 2022 
  • Panelist, HR Roundtable, Ontario Mutual Insurance Association, May 5, 2022
  • Moderator, "Managing the Hearing Room: Setting the Stage, Interactions with Counsel, Witnesses, the Public and Staff," Foundations in Adjudicative Tribunal Competencies: Certificate Program, Ontario Bar Association, May 11, 2022
  • Chair, "How Lawyers Can Promote EDI in Their Everyday Work," CACE Human Rights Committee: Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression Webinars Series – Winter 2022, January 18, 2022
  • Moderator, "Managing the Hearing Room: Setting the Stage, Interactions with Counsel, Witnesses, the Public and Staff", OBA Certificate Program: Foundations in Adjudicative Tribunal Competencies, July 21, 2021
  • Moderator, "Building New Competencies", Annual Update on Human Rights, Ontario Bar Association, May 26, 2021
  • 21st Employment Law Summit (Law Society of Ontario: October 2020)
  • Tribunals Ontario on What The Future Holds: A Virtual Discussion (OBA: July 2020)
  • Annual Update on Human Rights (OBA: May 2020)
  • Managing Mental Health Issues in the Workplace, Client Seminar, February 2020
  • Lunch & Law: Employment Law, Ryerson University’s Legal Innovation Zone, January 2020
  • Ending the Employment Relationship. At the Outset: Contractual Clauses (OBA: October 2019)
  • Workplace Accommodation: Navigating Evolving Legal Considerations (30th Schedule 2 Employers’ Group Conference: October 2019)
  • Annual Update on Human Rights (OBA: May 2019)
  • Human Resources Law for Education Professionals: Human Rights Update (Osgoode Professional Development: May 2019)
  • Flying Solo: Best Practices for Managing Proceedings Commenced by Self-Represented Litigants, Client Seminar, February 2019
  • Cannabis in Schools: An Educator’s Guide to the Law and Best Practices (Osgoode Professional Development: October 2018)
  • Employment Law for Startups & Entrepreneurs (Ryerson LIZ: March 2018)
  • Bill 148: Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017: Changes to the Employment Standards Act, 2000, Client Seminar, December 2017
  • Clarifying the Reach and Limits of Religious Freedom (OBA’s 16th Annual Charter Conference: October 2017)
  • Case Law Highlights (Ontario Public School Boards’ Association’s Education Labour Relations Symposium: April 2017)
  • Background & Criminal Record Checks, Client Seminar, October 2016

Media Mentions

  • Quoted, "Bill 149 presents further challenges for employers around hiring, compensation," Canadian HR Reporter, December 7, 2023
  • Quoted, "Disciplinary issues in the time of COVID-19," Canadian HR Reporter, February 23, 2021

Community Involvement

  • (Former) Public Affairs Liaison and Member-at-Large, Ontario Bar Association's Constitutional, Civil Liberties and Human Rights Law Section
  • Human Rights Committee, Canadian Association of Counsel to Employers (CACE)

Memberships And Affiliations

  • Canadian Bar Association
  • Ontario Bar Association
  • Law Society of Ontario
  • Canadian Association of Counsel to Employers (CACE)

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