As Canada is a member of the British Commonwealth, the monarch of Britain is its head of state and is represented by the Governor General of Canada, who is appointed by the sitting Prime Minister....more
In Bowen v. JC Clark Ltd., 2022 ONCA 614, the Ontario Court of Appeal (OCA) put employers on notice that their discretion in awarding discretionary bonuses is not unconstrained and must be exercised fairly and reasonably. ...more
Kosteckyj v Paramount Resources Ltd, 2022 ABCA 230 is an important Alberta Court of Appeal (ABCA) decision relating to constructive dismissal, as it assesses the timing of an employee’s objection to an employer’s unilateral...more
In Wisser v CEM International Management Consultants Ltd, 2022 ABQB 414 (CEM International), the court used the oppression remedy to hold directors of a corporation personally liable for damages for wrongful dismissal after...more
8/18/2022
/ Canada ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Damages ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
International Labor Laws ,
Severance Pay ,
Wrongful Termination
Deemed IDEL No Longer Available -
In May of 2020, Ontario filed O. Reg. 228/20, which provided that a non-unionized employee who did not perform their job duties during the “COVID-19 period” because their work hours were...more
8/10/2022
/ Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Standards Act ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Layoffs ,
Ontario ,
Wage and Hour
In A.B. v. C.D., 2022 HRTO 890, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) found that the applicant was a victim of discrimination on the basis of sex and that her work environment was poisoned by repeated acts of...more
8/9/2022
/ Canada ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Hostile Environment ,
Human Rights Code ,
International Labor Laws ,
Ontario ,
Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment
On July 21, 2022, Ontario filed Regulation 464/22, which amends O. Reg. 228/20: Infectious Disease Emergency Leave Regulation to extend the availability of Paid Infectious Disease Leave (Paid IDEL) until March 31, 2023. ...more
7/22/2022
/ Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Ontario ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Public Health ,
Sick Leave ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
In the spring, Bill 88, Working for Workers Act, 2022, received Royal Assent and became law. Among other things, Bill 88 amended Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) to require certain employers to ensure, within a...more
In Ontario (Health) v. Association of Ontario Midwives, the Court of Appeal for Ontario (OCA) was satisfied with the reasonableness of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario’s (HRTO) finding that the Ministry of Health (MOH)...more
7/19/2022
/ Canada ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Ministry of Health ,
Ontario ,
Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ,
Pay Gap ,
Wage and Hour
In Bryant v Parkland School Division, 2022 ABCA 220, the Court of Appeal for Alberta (ABCA) allowed an appeal from a summary dismissal by the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta (ABQB) in Bryant v Parkland School Division, 2021...more
In Public Health Sudbury & Districts v. Ontario Nurses’ Association, 2022 CanLii 48440 (ON LA), Arbitrator Robert J. Herman decided that the grievor was discriminated against on the basis of creed under the Ontario Human...more
6/27/2022
/ Arbitration ,
Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Human Rights Code ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Ontario ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Vaccinations
The poster is prepared by the Minister of Labour to help ensure employers understand their minimum obligations and employees know their rights.
...more
A recent wrongful dismissal opinion from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice weighed the impact of the pandemic and alleged failure to mitigate when deciding how much reasonable notice damages were owed the plaintiff. In...more
6/21/2022
/ Canada ,
Damages ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Standards Act ,
Hiring & Firing ,
International Labor Laws ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Notice Requirements ,
Ontario ,
Wrongful Termination
In Antchipalovskaia v. Guestlogix Inc., 2022 ONCA 454, the employer appealed a decision that the employee was entitled to 12 months’ notice for her dismissal without cause, which was based in part on a finding that she was...more
On May 31, 2022, Alberta’s Bill 17, Labour Statutes Amendment Act, 2022, received Royal Assent, and the following amendments to Reservist Leave and Bereavement Leave in the province’s Employment Standards Code came into...more
In McCoy v. Choi, 2022 ONCA 403, the Court of Appeal for Ontario (OCA) dismissed an appeal of a motion judge’s order, which allowed a Canadian Football League (CFL) player’s action for damages against a physician for...more
6/2/2022
/ Appeals ,
Canada ,
Collective Agreements ,
Damages ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
International Labor Laws ,
Negligence ,
Ontario ,
Tort ,
Workplace Injury
On April 27, 2022, in Canada Post Corporation v. Canadian Union of Postal Workers (Canada Post), Arbitrator Thomas Joliffe, Q.C. dismissed a union grievance disputing that the unilateral imposition of a mandatory vaccination...more
5/19/2022
/ Arbitration ,
Canada ,
Collective Agreements ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Grievance Process ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
In Beach Place Ventures Ltd. v. Employment Standards Tribunal, 2022 BCCA 147, the British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA) upheld a determination by the Employment Standards Tribunal (Tribunal) that three taxi drivers...more
The 2022 Ontario general election will take place on June 2, 2022. Voters will elect members of the provincial government to serve in the Legislative Assembly.
Under Ontario’s Election Act, every employee who is...more
In Zupcic v Saputo Foods Limited, 2022 AHRC 13 (Saputo), the Human Rights Tribunal of Alberta (Tribunal) dismissed an employee’s complaint that that she was discriminated against in employment on the ground of her physical...more
On April 22, 2022, Ontario announced that its Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) is maintaining the existing provincial masking requirements in select higher-risk indoor settings, and the CMOH Directives currently in...more
In BC Hydro and Power Authority and IBEW, Local 258, Re, 2022 CarswellBC 837, Arbitrator Gabriel Somjen decided that the mandatory vaccination policy of BC Hydro, British Columbia’s primary electricity supplier, was...more
4/25/2022
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Arbitration ,
Canada ,
Collective Agreements ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
On April 11, 2022, Bill 88, Working for Workers Act, 2022 received Royal Assent and became law. As previously discussed, in addition to enacting the new Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act, 2022 (DPWRA), Bill 88 amends the...more
On April 4, 2022, in Fraser Health Authority v British Columbia General Employees’ Union, 2022 CanLII 25560, Arbitrator Koml Kandola of the British Columbia Labour Relations Board dismissed the union’s grievance respecting...more
4/13/2022
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Arbitration ,
Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Litigation ,
Grievance Process ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
On April 4, 2022, in Extendicare Lynde Creek Retirement Residence and United Food & Commercial Workers Canada, Local 175, Arbitrator Stephen Raymond upheld a retirement home’s mandatory vaccination policy as a reasonable...more
4/11/2022
/ Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Essential Workers ,
Health and Safety ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Labor Disputes ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety