Deborah Furtado is a lawyer within the Labour, Employment & Human Rights group in our Montréal office. As part of her practice, she regularly advises clients in various sectors of activity, whether in matters of collective or individual labour relations. She also advises employers in both private and public sectors with respect to the complex human capital issues they face, regardless of whether they fall under provincial or federal jurisdiction.
Deborah provides strategic advice to employers on issues such as labour standards; human rights, which may include the hiring and termination of employees; disciplinary measures of employees; psychological and sexual harassment in the workplace; workforce management; labour disputes; and issues related to negotiating and interpreting collective agreements.
In the event of litigation, she additionally represents employers in grievance or labour standards arbitration cases before various civil and administrative tribunals in Québec.
Deborah is also an occasional speaker. She is invited to provide tailored training on a variety of employment-related topics, depending on the needs of clients, such as management of workplace absenteeism; the duty to accommodate; shadowing; mandatory vaccinations; electronic monitoring of employees; the impact of employee use of social networks; performance management, etc.
Finally, Deborah has developed an in-depth knowledge in human rights as an advocate for the rights of non-smokers who are inconvenienced by tobacco or cannabis smoke entering their homes. In this regard, she has advised many parties concerned about a risk to their health or real harm from exposure to second-hand smoke in their living areas: landlords, co-owners, condominium unions and tenants. In particular, she obtained the first judgment in Québec confirming the validity of a condominium by-law prohibiting co-owners from smoking in their private condominium units. Deborah was also mentioned in the 2025 edition of Legal 500.
