Just six weeks after holding in Coutinho v. Ocular Health Centre Ltd. that Ontario Regulation 228/20 (IDEL Regulation) under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) did not remove an employee’s common law right to claim...more
6/16/2021
/ Canada ,
Common Law Claims ,
Constructive Discharge ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Standards Act ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Layoffs ,
Ontario
In Czerniawski v. Corma Inc., 2021 ONSC 1514, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice concluded that a long-term employee’s misconduct did not justify dismissal for cause without notice. The court awarded 19 months’ common law...more
A recent Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision indicates that it is challenging for employers to obtain an interim injunction requiring an employee to remove allegedly defamatory social media posts pending resolution of...more
3/2/2021
/ Black Lives Matter ,
Canada ,
Defamation ,
Employment Litigation ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injunctive Relief ,
International Labor Laws ,
Ontario ,
Race Relations ,
Social Media
In a recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Iriotakis v. Peninsula Employment Services Limited, 2021 ONSC 998 (Peninsula Employment), the court considered factors unique to the COVID-19 pandemic in...more
In McGuinty v. 1845035 Ontario Inc. (McGuinty Funeral Home), 2020 ONCA 816 (McGuinty), the Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld the Ontario Superior Court’s decision to award an employee one of the highest damage awards ever...more
As we entered a new decade in 2020, Canada saw significant developments in labour and employment law, some of which related to COVID-19. This Insight provides an overview of 14 key 2020 developments, with links to more...more
1/8/2021
/ Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employment Standards Act ,
False Light ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Invasion of Privacy ,
Layoffs ,
Leave of Absence ,
Relief Measures ,
Tort ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Subsidies Schemes ,
Wrongful Death
In Kaminsky v Janston Financial Group, 2020 ONSC 5320, Ontario’s Superior Court reminds employers they will not be entitled to plead cause in response to a wrongful dismissal claim if at the time of dismissal, the employer...more
In Abrams v. RTO Asset Management, 2020 NBCA 57 (Abrams), the New Brunswick Court of Appeal considered an employee’s appeal of a decision dismissing his action for damages in lieu of reasonable notice upon his job termination...more
In Hetherington v Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority, 2020 SKQB 110, the Queen’s Bench for Saskatchewan considered the impact of an employee’s voluntary interruption of employment on her entitlement to common law...more
In Rutledge v. Canaan Construction Inc., 2020 ONSC 4246, Ontario’s Superior Court held, rather surprisingly, that a termination provision in an employment contract that has even a remote possibility of violating the...more
In Kim v. BT Express Freight Systems (2020), 317 A.C.W.S. (3d) 255, Ontario’s Superior Court confirmed that an employer may be liable for damages if it withdraws an accepted offer of employment or terminates employment...more
11/2/2020
/ Breach of Contract ,
Canada ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Damages ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
International Labor Laws ,
Ontario ,
Termination ,
Wrongful Termination
In George v. Laurentian Bank Securities Inc., 2020 ONSC 5415, one of the first decisions from Ontario’s Superior Court since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the court focused on an employee’s responsibilities rather than his...more
On October 9, 2020, in Matthews v. Ocean Nutrition Canada Ltd., 2020 SCC 26, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC)—the highest court in the country—released a highly anticipated decision in an employee’s appeal of the Nova Scotia...more
10/22/2020
/ Bonuses ,
Canada ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Constructive Discharge ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Damages ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Incentive Compensation ,
International Labor Laws ,
Motion to Set Aside the Verdict ,
Supreme Court of Canada ,
Wage and Hour
In Porcupine Opportunities Program Inc. v Cooper, 2020 SKCA 33 (Porcupine), the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal affirmed, among other things, that a trial court appropriately decided to award $20,000 in moral damages to an...more
The recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal in Manthadi v. ASCO Manufacturing, 2020 ONCA 485, analyzed the common law approach to the calculation of reasonable notice when a vendor terminates a worker’s employment in...more
8/20/2020
/ Asset Purchase Agreements ,
Asset Purchaser ,
Canada ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
International Labor Laws ,
Notice Requirements ,
Ontario ,
Successor Liability ,
Termination Clauses ,
Vendors
Canadian businesses have suffered severe financial distress due to COVID-19. Many employers have been forced to lay off their employees hoping they would only be required to do so temporarily. It has become clear that the...more
On May 29, 2020, the government of Ontario filed Ontario Regulation 228/20 (Regulation) under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). The Regulation amends layoff and constructive dismissal rules exclusively under the ESA,...more
Cormier v. 1772887 Ontario Limited (St. Joseph Communications) (“St. Joseph”), 2019 ONCA 965, is an appeal from a summary judgment motion arising from the wrongful dismissal claim of a contractor who worked for St. Joseph for...more
2/26/2020
/ Appeals ,
Canada ,
Contract Terms ,
Employee Definition ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Standards Act ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
International Labor Laws ,
Notice Requirements ,
Ontario ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Summary Judgment ,
Termination Clauses ,
Wrongful Termination
Canada saw significant developments in labour and employment law in 2019. As we embark on a new decade, we will undoubtedly see the landscape in this ever-changing area of law continue to evolve....more
1/9/2020
/ Amended Legislation ,
Appeals ,
Canada ,
Employee Misconduct ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
International Labor Laws ,
Labor Regulations ,
Labor Relations ,
Labour Code ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Substance Abuse ,
Tort ,
Undue Hardship
When an Ontario employee executes a well-drafted release of claims upon termination, there may still be a risk that a court will conclude the release is unenforceable because it is unconscionable....more
A recent decision of the Court of Appeal of Ontario, Colistro v. Tbaytel, 2019 ONCA 197, puts employers in Ontario on notice that if they re-hire an employee who has a history of victimizing a current employee by sexual...more
5/2/2019
/ Bad Faith ,
Canada ,
Constructive Discharge ,
Disability Benefits ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Pain and Suffering ,
PTSD ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Supreme Court of Canada
The Court of Appeal for Ontario recently rendered a decision in Ruston v. Keddco MFG. (2011) Ltd., 2019 ONCA 125, which serves as a cautionary tale for employers whose termination conduct reveals that they do not take their...more
Employers considering terminating long-term employees in Canada should be aware of two relatively recent decisions. In one case, Dawe, 2018 ONSC 3130, the terminated employee, age 62, was a highly paid Senior Vice President...more
Part III of the Canada Labour Code (the “Code”) contains unjust dismissal provisions that apply to private Canadian employers subject to federal jurisdiction. Where a complaint of unjust dismissal is filed by a dismissed...more