In 2023, Canada saw significant statutory and case law developments in labour and employment law. This Insight provides an overview of notable 2023 developments, with links to more detailed articles and commentary....more
In Shalagin v. Mercer Celgar Limited Partnership, 2023 BCCA 373, the British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA) upheld the lower court’s dismissal of an employee’s wrongful dismissal claim and its finding that his surreptitious...more
In Van Hee v Glenmore Inn Holdings Ltd., 2023 ABCJ 244 (Glenmore), the Alberta Court of Justice found that an employer’s mandatory vaccination policy was a reasonable, justified and lawful response to the extraordinary...more
12/18/2023
/ Canada ,
Constructive Discharge ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
International Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
In Ottawa Police Services Bd. v. Ottawa Police Assn., 2023 ONSC 6225, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Divisional Court) (Ont. SCJ (Div. Ct.)) quashed an arbitrator’s decision allowing two grievances that claimed...more
12/14/2023
/ Canada ,
Collective Agreements ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Holiday Pay ,
Holidays ,
International Labor Laws ,
Labor Relations ,
Ontario ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
The Supreme Court of Canada’s (SCC) decision in R. v. Greater Sudbury (City), 2023 SCC 28 was equally divided (4-4). In the absence of a majority SCC decision, the City's appeal was dismissed, and the decision of the Court...more
On November 25, 2023, O. Reg. 340/23: TERMINATION AND SEVERANCE OF EMPLOYMENT made under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) (Regulation), amending O. Reg. 288/01 (Termination and Severance of Employment), was published...more
On November 7, 2023, Prince Edward Island (PEI) introduced Bill 106, An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act (Bill 106) for First Reading. Bill 106 proposes to increase dramatically the paid sick leave to which employees...more
11/17/2023
/ Canada ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Standards Act ,
International Labor Laws ,
Labor Reform ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
On November 14, 2023, Ontario introduced Bill 149, Working for Workers Four Act, 2023 (Bill 149), for First Reading. If passed, Bill 149 would, among other things, amend the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA), the Workplace...more
On November 9, 2023, Bill C-58, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code and the Canada Industrial Relations Board Regulations, 2012 (Bill C-58), was introduced by the federal government for First Reading. Bill C-58 proposes,...more
11/16/2023
/ Canada ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
International Labor Laws ,
Labor Reform ,
Lockouts ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Strike ,
Temporary Employees ,
Wage and Hour
On October 26, 2023, Ontario’s Bill 79, Working for Workers Act, 2023 (Bill 79) received Royal Assent and came into force. The statutes amended by Bill 79 include the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA), the Occupational...more
By way of Order in Council approved and ordered on October 23, 2023, British Columbia’s Pay Transparency Regulation (Regulation) was made. The Regulation provides information about how pay transparency reports are to be...more
11/8/2023
/ Canada ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
International Labor Laws ,
Labor Reform ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Pay Transparency ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Wage and Hour
In Giacomodonato v. PearTree Securities Inc., 2023 ONSC 5628, Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice ordered the employer to pay to the employee the costs of the proceeding in the amount of $830,761 to dissuade employers from...more
In Guidance on wage or salary information on job postings (Guidance), the Government of British Columbia provides additional guidance on s. 2 of the province’s Pay Transparency Act (Act), which requires employers to...more
In Café La Foret Ltd. v. Cho, 2023 BCCA 354, the British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA) upheld a lower court’s determination that an employee’s sexual harassment of his subordinate was not sufficiently serious to justify his...more
In Dove v Destiny Media Technologies Inc., 2023 BCSC 1032 , the Supreme Court of British Columbia found that an employer had just cause for the dismissal of a full-time employee who worked on a side business during working...more
A recent Ontario Court of Appeal (OCA) decision demonstrates the process an employer may be expected to undertake to recover employee-stolen funds when the proceeds of the fraud are traced to the assets of a “stranger to the...more
On August 16, 2023, Canada published Regulation SOR/2023-180 under the Canada Labour Code (CLC) (Amending Regulation). The Amending Regulation exempts certain classes of employees in the banking, telecommunications and...more
8/29/2023
/ Airlines ,
Banks ,
Broadcasting ,
Canada ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
International Labor Laws ,
Railways ,
Telecommunications ,
Wage and Hour
In Khangura v Lumberwest Building Supplies Inc., 2023 BCSC 1053, the Supreme Court of British Columbia dismissed an employee’s claim that he was entitled to damages because he had been wrongfully dismissed without cause. The...more
Canada’s Regulation SOR/2023-78 (Regulation), which comes into force on December 15, 2023, will require employers to provide free menstrual products for employees’ use in each toilet room in federally regulated workplaces....more
In Monterosso v. Metro Freightliner Hamilton Inc., 2023 ONCA 413, the Ontario Court of Appeal (OCA) found that independent contractors have a duty to mitigate their damages upon the early termination of a fixed-term agreement...more
In Forbes v. Glenmore Printing Ltd., 2023 BCSC 25, the Supreme Court of British Columbia (BC) disagreed with the employee’s argument that the termination clause in his employment agreement was invalid because it required the...more
An arbitrator recently issued the first award in Ontario to address and uphold the reasonableness of a hospital vaccination policy that provides for the termination of employment for non-compliance. In Lakeridge Health and...more
6/8/2023
/ Arbitration ,
Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Ontario ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety ,
Wrongful Termination
In Teljeur v Aurora Hotel Group, 2023 ONSC 1324, a wrongful dismissal case, the court awarded the plaintiff-employee seven months’ damages for reasonable notice, and $15,000 in moral damages due to the employer’s bad-faith...more
The decision of the British Columbia, Canada Civil Resolution Tribunal (Tribunal) in Besse v. Reach CPA Inc., 2023 BCCRT 27 is especially relevant now that remote work has become common. The Tribunal found the employer had...more
5/31/2023
/ Canada ,
Electronic Monitoring ,
Employee Monitoring ,
Employee Tracking ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
International Labor Laws ,
Remote Working ,
Timekeeping ,
Wage and Hour
On May 11, 2023, British Columbia, Canada’s Bill 13, Pay Transparency Act (Act), received Royal Assent. Section 2 of the Act, which addresses the employer’s obligations regarding publicly advertised job opportunities, comes...more
5/24/2023
/ Canada ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
International Labor Laws ,
Labor Reform ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Pay Transparency ,
Pending Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Wage and Hour