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
On May 25, 2021, British Columbia released a four-step COVID-19 reopening plan, Restart: A plan to bring us back together. To move through the steps, British Columbia looks for...more
6/4/2021
/ Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Masks ,
Public Gatherings ,
Public Health ,
Re-Opening Guidelines ,
Social Distancing ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
On May 25, 2021, Alberta released its Open for Summer Plan (Opening Plan), which eases COVID-19 restrictions in three stages. Each stage is reached as COVID-19 vaccination targets are reached and hospitalizations decline. ...more
6/4/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Masks ,
Non-Essential Businesses ,
Public Gatherings ,
Re-Opening Guidelines ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Workplace Safety
On May 11, 2021, British Columbia (BC) announced that it had introduced Bill 13, Employment Standards Amendment Act (No. 2), 2021 (Bill 13) for first reading. Bill 13 received Royal Assent on May 20, 2021. Bill 13 amends the...more
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
Last May, the government of Ontario filed Ontario Regulation 228/20 (IDEL Regulation) under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). The Regulation provides that an employee in a non-unionized workplace who, any time during...more
5/4/2021
/ 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
On April 23, 2021, Ontario filed Regulations 313/21, 314/21 and 315/21 under the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020. The Regulations create new requirements relating to the temporary removal of...more
In Labrador Recycling Inc. v. Folino, 2021 ONSC 2195 (Labrador Recycling), Ontario’s Superior Court denied an employer’s motion for an urgent injunction to restrain its former employee from competing with it contrary to the...more
4/22/2021
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Breach of Contract ,
Breach of Duty ,
Canada ,
Competition ,
Contract Terms ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Injunctions ,
International Labor Laws ,
Ontario ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms
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 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
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 a News Release dated March 17, 2021, Ontario announced it was removing regulatory restrictions to make it easier for organizations to conduct on-site COVID-19 testing in the workplace. Asymptomatic employees can now...more
With increasing concerns over COVID-19 variants and the recent acceleration of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout to Ontario’s public, Ontario Premier Doug Ford was recently asked if the Government of Ontario would consider...more
On February 8, 2021, Ontario issued a news release announcing that it would be moving to a regional approach regarding its COVID-19 response. Most regions are maintaining the province’s shutdown, stay-at home order, and...more
In its January 2021 newsletter, What’s New, Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development provides new and updated guidance for businesses that are required to have a written safety plan, including all...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
The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) recently issued a decision expanding the duty of honest performance, which applies to parties to all contracts, by holding that they cannot knowingly deceive one another about matters...more
On January 4, 2021, Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health issued Toronto Public Health Instructions for Workplaces (Instructions), addressed to “All Employers and Persons Responsible for a Business or Organization in the City...more
1/11/2021
/ Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Re-Opening Guidelines ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Sick Employees ,
Workplace Safety
In Christian Labour Association of Canada v. Caressant Care Nursing & Retirement Homes (D. Randall), a union filed a group grievance on behalf of a number of its members working at an Ontario retirement home to challenge the...more
1/7/2021
/ Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Health and Safety ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Arbitration ,
Ontario ,
Screening Procedures ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
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 January 1, 2021, Bill C-65, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (harassment and violence), the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act and the Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 1 (Bill C-65) and the Work...more
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