Patrick Nugent

pat@nugentlawoffice.ca

Patrick Nugent loves practicing law and is devoted to serving his clients. He has represented trade unions and employees for the vast majority of his professional life. After an outstanding academic career where he received numerous prizes and awards and was valedictorian of his law school class (Class of 1997), Patrick articled to Phyllis Smith at Emery Jamieson and also served as the Senior Legal Counsel to the Chief Justice of Alberta. Since then, Patrick has represented trade unions and individuals in grievance arbitrations, labour board matters, disciplinary hearings, human rights proceedings and before all level of courts in Alberta and the Northwest Territories, as well as at the Supreme Court of Canada. Patrick has acted on behalf of airline pilots, miners, grocery clerks, police officers, labourers, municipal employees, nurses, engineers and employees from all walks of life, assisting all by providing advice to resolve or avoid legal disputes where possible and representation to maximize results where litigation is called for.

Patrick has presented at many national and local conferences on a wide variety of topics including drug and alcohol testing, accommodating mental illness and last chance agreements. He has also taught constitutional law at the University of Alberta Law Faculty as a sessional lecturer and, since 2004, has taught labour arbitration in the Faculty.

When not working Patrick enjoys spending time with his family, playing golf, doing yoga and thinking about what he's going to wear tomorrow.

Presentations and Publications

2020

  • "Arbitration – What's in and what's out?", 29th Annual Police Employment Conference, Emerging Issues and Legal Developments, Police Association of Ontario, 2019 (Speaker)

    • 2019

  • "Mental Health at Work: Meeting legal obligations, providing effective support" Professional Learning Program, Lancaster House, 2019 (Speaker)
  • "Objection! Practical advice on pre-hearing issues", 37th Annual Calgary Labour Arbitration and Policy Conference, Lancaster House, 2019 (Speaker)
  • "ATU 569 v City of Edmonton: Cognitive Testing Grievance", Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers Conference, Toronto, 2019 (Speaker)

2018

  • "Reefer Reality: Experts Discuss Burning Questions about Legalized Cannabis", Lancaster Audio Conference, Sep. 13, 2018 (Speaker)
  • "Disguised Discipline, Facial Hair Policies, SCC Decision in Elk Valley, Employer Overpayment and Clawback", AFPA Alberta Federation of Police Associations, 2018 (Speaker)
  • "From the Coal Mines to the Courts: Exploring Elk Valley and other recent rulings" 36th Annual Calgary Labour Arbitration and Policy Conference, Lancaster House, 2018 (Speaker)
  • "Addiction and Disclosure Policies After Elk Valley", 27th Annual Police Employment Conference, Emerging Issues and Legal Developments, Police Association of Ontario, 2018 (Speaker)
  • "Bargaining Under the Charter: Will Legislated Wage Restraints Pass Constitutional Muster?",Bargaining in the Broader Public Sector Conference, Lancaster House, 2018 (Speaker)

2017

  • "Bargaining in the Broader Public Sector", Lancaster House, November 2017 (Co-Chair and moderator)
  • "Medical Marijuana: Some Issues in the Jurisprudence", Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers Conference, Montreal, 2017 (Speaker)
  • "Brave New Grounds: Should genetic information, credit score, and social condition be added to human rights legislation as grounds of discrimination?", 35th Annual Calgary Labour Arbitration and Policy Conference, Lancaster House, 2017 (Speaker)

2016

  • "Employment Law Fundamentals: The Basics", Legal Education Society of Alberta Employment Law Conference, Edmonton/Calgary 2015
  • "Balancing Attendance Management, Accommodation and Return to Work", Lancaster House Advanced Skills Training, 2016 (Speaker)
  • "Surveillance and Workplace Privacy" 25th Annual Police Employment Conference, Emerging Issues and Legal Developments, Police Association of Ontario, 2019 (Speaker)

2015

  • "Testing the Limits of the Duty to Accommodate: Trendsetting Cases on Undue Hardship", Lancaster House Audio Conference, 2015 (Speaker)
  • "Taking Stock: Assessing the impact of recent major caselaw and legislation", Lancaster House Labour Arbitration and Policy Conference, Calgary, June 4-5, 2015 (Speaker)
  • "Relief from Duty Without Pay: A Brief Examination of the Alberta (Edmonton) Experience" Ontario Police Association Annual Conference on Police Employment, Mississauga ON, March 2-3, 2015, (Speaker)
  • "A Comment on the Supreme Court's Right to Strike Decision", for the Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations meeting, February 27, 2015 (Speaker)
  • "Privacy and Employee Medical Information", Legal Education Society of Alberta Labour and Employment Seminar, January 22, 2015 (Edmonton) and February 5, 2015 (Calgary) (Speaker)

2014

  • "Harassment and the Toxic Work Environment: Examining rights and remedies", Lancaster House Audio Conference, December 17, 2014 (Speaker)
  • "Public Sector Bargaining: The implications of government involvement", Lancaster House, Bargaining in the Broader Public Sector Conference, Vancouver, November 19-20, 2014 (Speaker)
  • "Disability Claims, Medical Information and Privacy", Presentation to the Conference of Western Canadian Police Associations, Edmonton, October 22, 2014 (Speaker)
  • "What You Don't Know Can Hurt You: Accommodating mental illness, addiction and other hidden disabilities", Lancaster House Audio Conference, July 10, 2014 (Speaker)
  • "Review of Bill 46 and recent Alberta legislation", Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers Annual Conference, Ottawa ON, June 12-15, 2014 (Speaker)
  • "On the Clock, Off the Radar: Time theft, surveillance and productivity", Lancaster House, Calgary Labour Arbitration and Policy Conference, Calgary, June 5-6, 2014 (Speaker)
  • "The Most Important Developments in 2013: And what they mean for you in 2014" Lancaster House, Calgary Labour Arbitration and Policy Conference, Calgary, June 5-6, 2014 (Moderator)
  • "Update on Police Discipline", Alberta Federation of Police Associations, Annual Meeting, Camrose AB, May 7-8, 2014 (Speaker)

2013

  • "Anger Management: Rage as a health and safety risk in the workplace", Lancaster House Audio Conference, November 14, 2013 (speaker)
  • "Drawing the Thin Blue Line: The role of the police in labour disputes", Canada Labour Board Conference, Toronto ON, October 22, 2013 (speaker)
  • "Settlement Toolkit: Managing the negotiations, dealing with the tax man", Calgary Labour Arbitration Conference, Calgary AB, May 30-31, 2013 (moderator and member of Conference Committee)
  • "Preventing Workplace Bullying and Intervening in Conflict", Advanced Skills Training, Lancaster House seminar, Edmonton AB, June 11, 2013 (speaker)
  • "Out of Bounds: Pranks, jokes and horseplay that cross the line into violence and harassment", Lancaster House Audio Conference, April 11, 2013 (speaker)
  • "Statutory Probationary Periods and the Human Rights Code – How do they interact?", Ontario Police Association Annual Conference on Police Employment, Mississauga ON, March 4-5, 2013, (speaker)