In Reotech Construction Ltd. v Snider, 2022 BCSC 317 (Reotech), the Supreme Court of British Columbia found that the trial court erred when it did not deduct the employee’s $9,000 Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB)...more
In Shalagin v. Mercer Celgar Limited Partnership, 2022 BCSC 112 (Mercer), the Supreme Court of British Columbia dismissed an employee’s wrongful dismissal claim and held that his surreptitious recording of conversations with...more
In Nader v. University Health Network, 2022 ONSC 447, the court examined the language of a secondment agreement and concluded that the plaintiff-employee was not a fixed-term employee of the organization to which he was...more
In Power Workers’ Union v Elexicon Energy Inc., 2022 CanLII 7228 (ON LA) (Elexicon Energy), a union challenged the reasonableness of an electricity distribution company’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy (Policy). ...more
2/17/2022
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitrators ,
Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
In 2021, Canada saw significant statutory and case law developments in labour and employment law, some of which related to COVID-19. This Insight provides an overview of key 2021 developments, with links to more detailed...more
12/17/2021
/ Canada ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
International Labor Laws ,
Labor Reform ,
New Legislation ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Harassment Guidance ,
Workplace Violence ,
Wrongful Termination
On November 12, 2021, in Ontario Power Generation and The Power Worker Union (OPG), Arbitrator John C. Murray considered issues relating to a Vaccinate or Test Policy (Policy) that provided, among other things, that if...more
11/18/2021
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
OHSA ,
Ontario ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
On October 29, 2021, in Blake v. University Health Network, 2021 ONSC 7139 (Blake), the Ontario Superior Court of Justice discontinued an interim injunction that it had issued on October 22, 2021, staying the terminations of...more
11/10/2021
/ Canada ,
Collective Agreements ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Injunctions ,
International Labor Laws ,
Ontario ,
Stays ,
Unions ,
Wrongful Termination
In O’Reilly v. ClearMRI Solutions Ltd., 2021 ONCA 385 (ClearMRI Solutions), the Ontario Court of Appeal (OCA) decided that the motion judge erred in concluding that a majority shareholder of an employee’s contractual employer...more
7/8/2021
/ Canada ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
International Labor Laws ,
Ontario ,
Responsible Party ,
Shareholders ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour
The recent Ontario decision, Hawkes v. Max Aicher (North America) Limited, 2021 ONSC 4290 (Max Aicher), establishes that global employment is factored into the calculation of an employer’s payroll under s. 64 of the...more
6/28/2021
/ Canada ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Standards Act ,
Hiring & Firing ,
International Labor Laws ,
Ontario ,
Ontario Labour Relations Board ,
Payroll Expenses ,
Severance Pay ,
Wage and Hour
To date, few decisions in Canada have considered whether the amount of the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) employees receive after their job termination should be deducted from their damages in lieu of common law...more
6/9/2021
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Damages ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair-Notice Standard ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Layoffs ,
Wrongful Termination
In Phillips v. Westcan, 2020 ABQB 764, the Court of Queen’s Bench for Alberta denied an employee’s application for a permanent injunction against his non-unionized employer to prohibit the employer from randomly testing its...more
In Perretta v. Rand A Technology Corporation, 2021 ONSC 2111, Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice ordered an employer to pay an employee damages for reasonable notice at common law when it decided the employer repudiated its...more
In Anderson v Total Instant Lawns Ltd, 2021 ONSC 2933 (Total Instant Lawns), an employee claimed her job was terminated and sought damages for wrongful dismissal. The employer denied the employee was dismissed and argued...more
5/13/2021
/ Breach of Contract ,
Canada ,
Contract Terms ,
Counterclaims ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Ontario ,
Repudiation ,
Wrongful Termination
In Currie v. Nylene Canada Inc., 2021 ONSC 1922, Ontario’s Superior Court held that “exceptional circumstances” existed to justify making an award that exceeded the 24-month “high end” amount of reasonable notice for...more
In De Facendis v. Toronto Parking Authority, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice held that when a claim for workplace sexual harassment and workplace sexual assault “arises under the collective agreement,” a labour...more
In Nahum v. Honeycomb Hospitality Inc., 2021 ONSC 1455, the Ontario Superior Court determined that an employee’s pregnancy should impact the calculation of her reasonable notice period for dismissal. The court awarded the...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
In Garda Security Screening Inc. v. IAM, District 140 (Shoker Grievance) [2020] O.L.A.A. No. 162 (Garda Grievance), a labour arbitrator dismissed a grievance pertaining to the for-cause dismissal of a unionized employee who...more
Two recent decisions of the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal (BCHRT) applied the strict standard test for family status discrimination established by the British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA) in Health Sciences...more
On October 18, 2019, we wrote about the tests currently used to establish family status discrimination in Canada, and recommended policies and programs employers can put in place for employees that need accommodations due to...more
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
A recent Ontario Superior Court decision, Kerner v. Information Builders (Canada) Inc., 2020 ONSC 2975, clarified whether an employee was entitled to commissions that were “booked and billed” after his job termination, but...more
9/22/2020
/ Canada ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
International Labor Laws ,
Notice Requirements ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Sales Commissions ,
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
Members of the Baby Boom generation often remained in one job throughout their working lives. It is now more common for employers to receive résumés from millennials (born between 1981 – 1996) who have had numerous jobs...more
10/21/2019
/ Appeals ,
Canada ,
Elder Care ,
Employee's Childcare ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Family Status Discrimination ,
Flexible Work Arrangements ,
Judicial Review ,
Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
The Federal Court of Canada recently confirmed in Bank of Montreal v. Li, 2018 FC 1298 CanLII (Bank of Montreal), that an employee’s signed release and settlement agreement will not preclude a complaint for unjust dismissal...more