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Littler

Canada: Ontario Government Introduces Significant Changes to Key Workplace Legislation

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On May 28, 2025, the Ontario Government introduced the Working for Workers Seven Act, 2025 (Bill 30). If passed, Bill 30 will amend the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA), Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), and...more

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

British Columbia and Ontario: Two Diverging Approaches to Interpreting Termination Provisions

Overview - Employers increasingly face challenges regarding whether termination provisions in their employment agreements will be determined to be enforceable if challenged in court. As we continue to see increasing court...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Court Finds Employer Repudiated Employment Agreement When it Failed to Pay Employee’s Contractual Severance

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In Timmins v. Artisan Cells, 2025 CanLII 2387, Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice found, in an undefended claim, that the employers “by their correspondence and actions” repudiated the employee’s employment agreement when...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Court of Appeal Agrees “For Cause” Termination Provision Was Unenforceable Because it Did not Comply with ESA’s...

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Applying prior precedent, the Court of Appeal for Ontario (OCA) in Dufault v. Ignace (Township), 2024 ONCA 915, upheld the Ontario Superior Court of Justice’s (OSCJ) finding that the “for cause” termination provision in an...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Ontario Court Reaffirms Importance of Clear and Compliant Language in Employment Agreements

In December 2024, the Court of Appeal for Ontario released its highly anticipated decision in Dufault v. Ignace (Township). The three-judge panel determined that the “for cause” termination clause contained in the employee’s...more

Stikeman Elliott LLP

Ontario Announces Effective Dates for Job Posting and Pay Transparency, and Employment Information Requirements

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The Ontario government recently announced January 1, 2026, as the effective date for the new pay transparency requirements in relation to publicly advertised job postings under the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the...more

Bennett Jones LLP

New Regulations Regarding the Hiring Process: Key Dates and Information for Ontario Employers

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Ontario has recently published regulations offering employers further details on the new amendments to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) related to the hiring process....more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Court Finds Termination Provisions Unenforceable and Awards Employee Punitive Damages

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Wilds v. 1959612 Ontario Inc., 2024 ONSC 3452, involves a wrongful dismissal action in which the employee brought a motion for summary judgment. The court found the termination provisions in her employment agreement were...more

Bennett Jones LLP

Working for Workers Six Act, 2024: More Changes on the Horizon for Ontario’s Employment-Related Legislation

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On November 27, 2024, the Ontario government introduced Bill 229, Working for Workers Six Act, 2024 (Bill 229). This announcement comes just one-month after Ontario’s Working for Workers Five Act, 2024 (Bill 190) received...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Court Upholds Provision Limiting Employee’s Termination Rights to Minimums Under Employment Standards Legislation

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In Bertsch v. Datastealth Inc., 2024 ONSC 5593, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed an employee’s claim for common law reasonable notice of termination on a Rule 21 motion....more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Appellate Court Provides Guidance to Employers on How to Draft Employment Settlement Documents

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The Court of Appeal for Ontario found that settlement documents signed after an employee separated from employment prevented him from suing for the value of vested stock options....more

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Ontario, Canada Court Orders Independent Medical Examination of Employee Claiming Indefinite Inability to Mitigate Due to Mental...

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Marshall v. Mercantile Exchange Corporation, 2024 CanLII 71128  (ONSC), is an action for wrongful dismissal where the employee claimed he could not mitigate his damages by seeking alternative employment indefinitely because...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Court Reinforces Waksdale’s Impact on Enforceability of Termination Provisions and Provides Guidance on Proving...

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In De Castro v. Arista Homes Limited, 2024 ONSC 1035, Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice (Court) held the termination provision in an employment contract was unenforceable because it defined “cause” more broadly than does...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Appeal Court Confirms Employment Contract Frustrated by Employee’s Refusal to Comply With COVID-19 Vaccination...

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In Croke v. VuPoint System Ltd., 2024 ONCA 354, the Court of Appeal for Ontario (OCA) upheld the Superior Court of Justice – Ontario (SCJ)’s summary judgment decision that an employee’s refusal to comply with their employer’s...more

Miller Canfield

Key Takeaways from Ontario's Working for Workers Act Four, 2023

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In November 2023, the Government of Ontario passed Bill 149, the Working for Workers Four Act, 2023 (the “Act”). The Act places new obligations and prohibitions on employers, and intends to strengthen Ontario’s employee...more

Ius Laboris

Canadian court upholds termination of unvaccinated worker

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The Ontario Court of Appeal recently held that an employee’s failure to meet COVID-19 vaccination requirements imposed by a third party amounted to frustration of the employment contract. As a result, there was no obligation...more

Stikeman Elliott LLP

Incoming Legislative Changes for Ontario Employers: New Prohibition on Requirements Listed in Job Postings and Application Forms

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Further to our last post where we discussed the caution employers should exercise when requesting proof of citizenship or permanent residency status in the job application process, employers may soon face an additional level...more

Stikeman Elliott LLP

Ontario Updates: New Fines for ESA Contraventions, and Working for Workers Five Act (Bill 190) Proposed

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On May 6, 2024, the Ontario Government introduced Bill 190, the Working for Workers Five Act, 2024 (“Bill 190”), which, if passed, will provide new protections for workers, the key details of which are summarized below. The...more

Stikeman Elliott LLP

Ontario Update: Bill 149 Receives Royal Assent, includes Pay Transparency and AI Disclosure Requirements for Job Postings

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On March 21, 2024, the Working for Workers Four Act, 2024 (“Bill 149”) received Royal Assent. Bill 149 amends the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the “ESA”) to include a new section pertaining to job postings, which...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Court Finds Termination Clauses in Fixed-Term Employment Agreement Unenforceable

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In Dufault v. The Corporation of the Township of Ignace, 2024 ONSC 1029, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice held that the termination provisions of a fixed-term employment contract were illegal and unenforceable because...more

Stikeman Elliott LLP

Ontario Court Rules Employer's Discretion to Terminate is Shackled by the ESA

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In Dufault v. The Corporation of the Township of Ignace ("Dufault"), the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, on a summary judgment motion, found the termination without cause provision of a fixed-term employment contract...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Court Decides Wrongfully Dismissed Employee’s Rejection of Offer of Comparable Employment Amounts to Failure to...

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In Gannon v. Kinsdale Carriers, 2024 ONSC 1060, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice denied common law reasonable notice to an employee who was wrongfully dismissed from her employment on the basis that she failed to...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Human Rights Commission Publishes Policy on Caste-based Discrimination

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The Ontario Human Rights Commission recently published a policy statement (Policy) pertaining to “caste-based discrimination” under Ontario’s Human Rights Code (Code). The Policy advises organizations that they have a legal...more

Bennett Jones LLP

More Legislative Changes on the Horizon for Ontario Employers

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On November 14, 2023, the Ontario government tabled Bill 149, Working for Workers Four Act, 2023 (Bill 149) which, as of the date of this blog, has been referred to the Standing Committee on Social Policy. If implemented as...more

Bennett Jones LLP

Changes to Ontario's Employment-Related Legislation Have Arrived

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As you may have heard or read in our earlier blog, More Changes to Ontario's Employment-Related Legislation Are on the Horizon, the Ontario government introduced Bill 79, Working for Workers Act, 2023 in late March 2023. On...more

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