Kenneth Wm. Thornicroft

Biography

Kenneth Wm. Thornicroft is a professor of law & employment relations with the University of Victoria’s Peter B. Gustavson School of Business. Dr. Thornicroft holds a law degree (LL.B./JD 1979) from the University of British Columbia and a doctorate (PhD 1996) in Labour and Human Resource Policy/Employment Law from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Thornicroft has received numerous teaching awards including 6 separate “Professor of the Year” awards, as well as several other research and scholarship awards. Dr. Thornicroft is a member of the Law Society of British Columbia, the Canadian Bar Association, the British Columbia Council of Administrative Tribunals, the Canadian Industrial Relations Association, the Society of Labor Economists, the Society for International Hockey Research and is a member of several academic journal editorial review boards. 

Prior to joining academia, Dr. Thornicroft spent 10 years as a trial lawyer in Vancouver, B.C. and has for the past 3 decades acted a third party neutral. Dr. Thornicroft’s professional practice is restricted to arbitration and alternative dispute resolution. He has acted as a third-party neutral (both as an arbitrator and a mediator) in a wide variety of contexts including employment disputes (in both the union and nonunion sectors), shareholder and partnership disputes, commercial and residential tenancy disputes, property valuation disputes, major personal injury claims and franchise disputes. During the past 2 decades, Dr. Thornicroft has served as a third-party neutral in several thousand disputes. Dr. Thornicroft is a former member of the B.C. Arbitration Review Panel, the B.C. Employment and Assistance Appeal Tribunal, the B.C. Parole Board and the Delta Police Board. He is a current member of the B.C. Property Assessment Appeal Board, the B.C. Employment Standards Tribunal and is the provincial adjudicator for the B.C. Ministry of Education Student Appeals Branch. 

Dr. Thornicroft is the author of over 170 journal articles, conference papers, book reviews and book chapters; his writing has been published in, among other outlets, The Advocate, Alberta Law Review, Business & the Contemporary World, Canadian Bar Review, Canadian Labour & Employment Law Journal, Education & Law Journal, Employee Relations, Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, Entertainment & Sports Law Journal, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Journal of Collective Negotiations in the Public Sector, Journal of Individual Employment Rights, Journal of Labor Research, Journal of Workplace Rights, Labor Law Journal, Labor Studies Journal, Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations and Women in Management Review. He is the co-author of Employment Obligations and Confidential Information (2nd edition, 2009; 3rd ed., 2015) and Collective Agreement Arbitration in Canada (4th edition, 2009; 5th ed., 2013; 6th ed., 2017) both published by LexisNexis Canada Inc., and Canadian Business Law: A British Columbia Perspective (Emond Publishing, 2020). 

Dr. Thornicroft’s current research focuses on employee/er rights issues, employment law and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the interpretation and enforcement of employment contracts.

Teaching

Courses taught

• Legal Issues Management (BCom)
• The Legal Environment of Business (BCom, Minor)
• Employment Law (BCom)
• Managing in Unionized Environment (BCom)
• The Law of the Workplace (BCom)
• Selected Topics in Management: Labour Relations in Professional Sports (BCom)

Selected publications

Awards & grants

Recognition & awards

• 2006 - Faculty of Business Outstanding Educator Award, University of Victoria

• 2000 - MBA Outstanding Professor Award, Royal Roads University

• 1997 - Commerce Students Assn. Professor of the Year Award, University of Victoria

• 1993 - Board of Advisors Teaching Excellence Award, University of Victoria

• 1992 - Dean's Research Award, Memorial University of Newfoundland

• 1990 - Richard D. Irwin Foundation Doctoral Fellowship

• 1987 - T/A & R/A Fellowship, Case Western Reserve University

• 1975 - T. Eaton Company Commerce Scholarship, Simon Fraser University

• 1973 - Open Scholarship, Simon Fraser University

• 1973 - Entrance Scholarship, University of British Columbia

Grants

• Reassessing “Good Faith” in Contracts of Employment under Canadian Common Law, 2019 Global Business & International Management Conference, August 16-18, 2019, Portland, Oregon.
• Wage Discrimination in University Professional Schools: Evidence From British Columbia’s Business & Law Faculties, National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education & the Professions 45th Annual Conference, New York, NY, April 15-17, 2018.
• Face-Off in Court – Major Junior Hockey Players v. The Canadian Hockey League, National Business & Economics Society 19th Annual Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, March 7-10, 2018.
• Employee Selection in Professional Sports – The Case of the NHL Draft: 2005-2015, Academy of Business Research Fall Conference, November 1 – 3, 2017, San Antonio, Texas.
• An Empirical Analysis of the Relative Impact of the Bardal Factors on “Reasonable Notice” Awards, Canadian Industrial Relations Association Annual Conference, May 31 – June 2, 2016, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
• Drug & Alcohol Testing in the Workplace: Comparing the USA and Canadian Legal Regimes, Society of Business Research International Conference, October 23 – 25, 2014, Nashville, Tennessee.
• Severance Pay for Older Workers Under Canadian Common Law, Western Business & Management Association International Research Conference for the Management Disciplines, April 25 – 26, 2014, San Francisco, California.
• The Uncertain Path Toward National Securities Regulation in Canada, Academy of Business Research Fall Conference, November 7th – 9th, 2012, Biloxi, Mississippi.
• Western Business & Management International, Funded by University of Victoria, The Office of Research Services (April 25, 2014 - April 26, 2014), awarded February 21, 2014 ($1,250.00), Completed, Spring 2014, PI Kenneth Thornicroft
• Canadian Industrial Relations Association Annual Conference, Funded by University of Victoria, Office of Research Services (May 29, 2012 - May 31, 2012), awarded April 2, 2012 ($900.00), Completed, Spring 2012, PI Kenneth Thornicroft