G. Grant Machum,
ICD.D

Partner

• Queen’s Marque
  600-1741 Lower Water Street
  Halifax, N.S.
  B3J 0J2
• +1.902.420.3330
• +1.902.488.3770
• +1.902.496.6195
• ggmachum@stewartmckelvey.com
• LinkedIn Profile

Language(s) spoken: English

Bar Admission(s): New Brunswick, 1997; Ontario, 1993; Nova Scotia, 1991

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Legal Assistant(s): Angela Atkinson

Providing legal services through a professional corporation.

Grant offers experienced counsel and effective advocacy pertaining to workplace issues for private and public sector clients across Canada and internationally. He is a member of the bars in Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. He helps employers navigate successful solutions in areas of performance and discipline management, employee terminations, wrongful dismissal litigation, labour relations, workplace disputes, employment agreements, executive compensation, workplace human rights, fiduciary and other post-employment duties. Grant has guided his clients (including Boards) through high stakes “bet-the-company’ litigation. He is the former firm wide Practice Group Leader for Labour & Employment.  In 2018 he was appointed a Member, Advisory Committee, Queen’s University Faculty of Law, Centre for Law in the Contemporary Workplace. Matters handled by Grant include:

• Acting as lead negotiator for the largest regional newspaper achieving a modern collective agreement to respond to industry changes;
• Successfully defending a claim against a financial institution for age discrimination;
• Successfully defending a national food retailer against claims of constructive dismissal;
• Regularly provide workplace advice to five Canadian Chartered Banks and defence of litigated matters;
• Successfully defended a claim by a former human resources manager against a distribution company;
• Acted for an employer in relation to one of the original first contract arbitration cases in Nova Scotia;
• Employment issues in relation to the acquisition by Sobeys of the assets of Canada Safeway for approximately $5.8 billion;
• Representation of a large publicly traded children’s content creation company in relation to various acquisitions and executive compensation;
• Advice in relation to sexual harassment and #metoo complaints;
• Representation of a large regional institution in relation to misappropriation of funds by senior executives;
• Successfully defending claims relating to workplace accommodation;
• Successfully defending actions brought by financial advisers (brokers);
• Successfully defended action by unionized employee against the school board in relation to claims of negligent misrepresentation, breach of statutory duties, breach of good faith and breach of fiduciary duties;
• Successfully defending venture capital companies from dismissal claims by former employees;
• Successfully representing a dairy producer in relation to various grievances including poor performance by long service employees;
• Successful claim by fishermen against a global seafood company;
• Successfully defending a shareholders dispute;
• Successfully defending a human rights claim by janitorial workers against a property development company;
• Successfully represented employers in the hospitality industry in relation to human rights and labour standards;
• Successfully defending one of the world’s largest publicly traded international oil and gas companies against a claim of constructive dismissal by a senior executive at the trial level and Court of Appeal;
• Defending the world’s leading technology company against a dismissal claim;
• Successfully resolving disputes through private arbitration relating to senior executives or workplace issues;
• Successfully defending a national retailer before the Labour Board in relation to a claim for psychological harassment and bullying;
• Successfully representing a privately-owned company that manages and operates ambulance services in final offer arbitration;
• Successfully representing a financial institution in relation to a human rights complaint (failure to accommodate a mental illness) before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal;
• Successfully defending a leading beverage company against termination grievance (long service);
• Successfully defending a large carpet manufacturer against a termination grievance (long service);
• Successfully defending claim by a manager during a probationary period addressing what duties are on the employer during the probationary process;
• Successfully defending a pharmaceutical company against a claim by a former sales manager;
• Successfully striking out claim for breach of fiduciary duty and oppression remedy against a CEO of a manufacturing company;
• Successfully defending a school board and bus driver in a claim for negligence in the longest civil jury case in Nova Scotia history including an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada;
• Successfully obtaining injunctions against former employees unfairly competing;
• Secured an Anton Piller injunction to seize without warning electronic devices and documents believed to contain trade secrets;
• Advising large and small employers in relation to reorganizations and restructuring;
• Successfully defending a company in the off-shore industry in relation to a claim for special post-retirement benefits;
• Successfully defending a claim against a sporting association by a former coach;
• Successfully defended a sports team in relation to a claim of common employer;
• Successfully defending claim for wrongful termination by former manager of Quebec-based telecom and media company;
• Successfully defending action in Ontario by former manager against environmental engineering firm alleging constructive dismissal;
• Successfully defending claims by former employees terminated for poor performance, harassment, theft, breach of confidence and insubordination;
• Defending the world’s largest developers of products for snowboarding in a claim for negligence;
• Successfully defending a claim against a large real estate company by a former property manager for wrongful termination and discrimination;
• Assisting regional and national employers on the development of employment policies; protection of business policies and codes of conduct;
• Assisting national law firms on matters in Atlantic Canada;
• Advising boards of private and publicly traded companies, universities, and crown corporations on board governance; and
• Providing strategic advice to employers regarding collective agreements, unionization, decertification, grievances and arbitrations.