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
In M & P Drug Mart Inc. v. Norton, 2022 ONCA 398, the Court of Appeal for Ontario (OCA) dismissed an employer’s appeal of an application judge’s decision that a non-competition clause in an employment agreement governed by...more
5/31/2022
/ Ambiguous ,
Appeals ,
Canada ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
International Labor Laws ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Ontario ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms
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
Since late fall 2021, we have seen a steady flow of arbitration awards emerge in Ontario and British Columbia that consider issues relating to mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies in the unionized workplace. In this...more
4/27/2022
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
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
On April 5, 2022, Ontario announced that, in an effort to help workers with rising costs and inflation, it will be raising its general minimum wage by 8% from $15 per hour to $15.50 per hour, commencing October 1, 2022. The...more
In Oostlander v Cervus Equipment Corporation, 2022 ABQB 200, the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta awarded 24 months’ pay in lieu of reasonable notice to a long-term heavy duty mechanic, less mitigation income. The court also...more
In a successful wrongful dismissal claim for $18,647, the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Austin v Kitsumkalum First Nation, 2020 BCSC 2298, awarded the employee an additional $15,000 for aggravated damages because the...more
In Unifor Local 973 v Coca-Cola Canada Bottling Limited, 2022 CanLII 20322, Arbitrator Mark Wright made another contribution to the “weight of authority” in Ontario labour arbitration awards pertaining to mandatory COVID-19...more
3/25/2022
/ Arbitration ,
Canada ,
Collective Agreements ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
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 Currie v. Nylene Canada Inc., 2022 ONCA 209, the Ontario Court of Appeal (OCA) dismissed the employer’s appeal of a lower court decision in which trial judge held “exceptional circumstances” existed to justify making an...more
Face coverings are optional for people in all indoor public settings. People can continue to wear a mask based on personal choice. Individual businesses and organizations can choose to continue to require mask wearing on...more