The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020, and many employers responded by requiring or encouraging their employees to work from home. Even as Canada commences "reopening", it...more
The Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility (LEEFF) is another part of Canada's COVID-19 Economic Response Plan. Details of LEEFF were announced on May 20, 2020, the same time the application process opened....more
The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) was enacted, as amendments to the Income Tax Act (Canada) (ITA), on April 11, 2020, for the purposes of assisting employers in financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic and of...more
As we better understand the challenges associated with COVID-19, attention has turned to reopening the Canadian economy and retuning to work. This, in turn, raises questions about the steps that employers should be taking to...more
On April 21, 2020, the federal government announced that applications for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) will open on April 27, and provided details on the application process as well as information on (and access...more
On Saturday April 11, 2020, the COVID-19 Emergency Response Act, No. 2 received Royal Assent, thereby amending the Income Tax Act (Canada) to give effect to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) framework that the federal...more
Changes Announced on April 8, 2020 -
On April 8, 2020, the federal government disclosed updated eligibility and coverage information on its proposed Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), the preliminary details of which...more
As previously reported in our March 25, 2020 posting, in the circumstances of the current public health emergency caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus the Ontario Government issued a list of categories of essential...more
As an alternative to engaging in layoffs or reducing work-weeks (which we discuss in Employer's Guide to COVID-19—Managing Issues of Pay), an employer may consider applying for relief under the existing Canadian Work Sharing...more
On April 1, 2020, the federal government disclosed additional eligibility and coverage information on its proposed Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), the preliminary details of which were introduced in announcements made...more
On April 1, 2020, the Canadian government announced further details of the previously announced Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), including updated information about how applicants can apply for benefits. ...more
On March 25, 2020, the Canadian government announced the creation of a temporary program called the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) to address the overwhelming number of Employment Insurance (EI) applications...more
The Ontario government has issued a list of categories of essential workplaces that are permitted to remain open, under the authority granted under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act (Ontario), as the province...more
Ontario is ordering the mandatory closure of all non-essential workplaces to further contain the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. This closure will be effective as of Tuesday, March 24 at 11:59 p.m. Premier...more
The Alberta Government has clarified that employees will be entitled to a 14-day leave that is unpaid if they are quarantined due to COVID-19. This retreats from a prior press release from Premier Jason Kenney on March 13,...more
The novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) was first reported in Wuhan, China, on December 31, 2019. Since then, COVID-19 dominates domestic and international news sources as the virus continues to spread globally....more
3/13/2020
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On December 6, 2018, the Ontario Government introduced Bill 66, titled Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act, 2018 (Bill 66). Bill 66 would amend several provincial statutes, including the Ontario Employment Standards Act,...more
On October 23, the Ontario Government introduced Bill 47, Making Ontario Open for Business Act, 2018 ("Bill 47"). The stated purpose of the legislation is to remove “the worst burdens that prevent Ontario businesses from...more
In November 2017, Ontario’s Bill 148, the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017, received Royal Assent. While many changes to Ontario’s employment laws have already come into effect, others are just around the corner....more
On November 28, 2017, Ontario’s Bill 148, the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017, received Royal Assent. While some major changes have already come into effect, others are just around the corner....more
On November 28, 2017, Ontario’s Bill 148, the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017, received Royal Assent. Major changes are now on the horizon for all provincially-regulated workplaces in Ontario....more
On November 28, 2017, Ontario’s Bill 148, the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017, received royal assent. What this means is that major changes are on the horizon for all provincially-regulated workplaces in Ontario....more
North v Metaswitch Networks Corporation, 2017 ONCA 790 [Metaswitch] is the latest in a series of employee-friendly appellate level decisions where a contractual termination provision is not enforced. The Ontario Court of...more
The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Stewart v. Elk Valley Coal Corp., 2017 SCC 30 is good news for employers. The Court upheld the prior decisions of the Alberta Court of Appeal and Alberta Human Rights Tribunal,...more
Canadian public merger and acquisition transactions in 2016 (in-bound and out-bound) comprised over C$400 billion in value with at least one-third of the transactions in Canada being fueled by foreign buyers. The second...more