Cristina Wendel

Cristina Wendel is the lead of the Edmonton Employment and Labour group and leader of the Alberta occupational health and safety practice.

Cristina advises and represents employers in all aspects of occupational health and safety matters, including day-to-day compliance, incident response, incident investigations and defending employers charged with occupational health and safety offences. In addition, Cristina represents federally and provincially regulated, unionized and non-unionized employers in a variety of employment and labour law matters such as wrongful dismissal claims, employment standards disputes, human rights issues, labour arbitrations, labour relations board proceedings and unfair competition actions. She provides strategic advice to employers on matters such as employment contracts, workplace policies, restrictive covenants, managing employees, workers’ compensation matters, workplace discrimination and accommodation concerns, and labour relations issues.

As a member of Dentons’ workplace investigations team, Cristina provides invaluable assistance to employers in dealing with employee complaints, including complaints of workplace harassment, bullying and violence. As a neutral external investigator, Cristina conducts thorough and timely workplace investigations. She completed specialized training in trauma-informed workplace investigations, further strengthening her ability to conduct sensitive inquiries with empathy, fairness and a deep understanding of the impacts of trauma in the workplace. Cristina also provides advice to employers who are navigating internal investigations and provides workplace investigation or respectful workplace training sessions for employees to assist employers in satisfying their obligations.

Cristina also practices education and constitutional law, advising school boards on a variety of labour and employment and constitutional law matters.

Cristina is a regular presenter at seminars and courses, including Dentons’ Breakfast for the Mind series, on a variety of current occupational health and safety, employment and labour topics. She is an active volunteer for various legal and community organizations.

Called to the bar: Alberta, 2004

CBA Labour and Employment Law Section (North), 2013–2020; Law Society of Alberta; Canadian Bar Association; Edmonton Bar Association; Dentons' National Diversity and Inclusion Committee, 2013–2020; Member, Dentons’ Canada WomenLEAD (Leadership, Entrepreneurism, Advancement, and Development), an affinity group that plays a critical role in supporting and building the success of women at Dentons