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Coronavirus/COVID-19 › Canada › Employment Litigation

Read guidance, analysis, and updates on the myriad issues arising from the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Updated hourly every day, the insights published here are written by leading lawyers and law firms... more +
Read guidance, analysis, and updates on the myriad issues arising from the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Updated hourly every day, the insights published here are written by leading lawyers and law firms helping to make sense of insurance, employment, tax, securities, M&A, risk management, and every other consideration touched by this crisis. Follow the channel for a daily email brief of the latest and best updates. less -
Stikeman Elliott LLP

Needle-less Dispute? BC Court Finds That Unpaid Leave Due to Non-Compliance Did Not Amount to Constructive Dismissal

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The COVID-19 litigation lag continues to play out in Canadian courts; and employers are starting to get some clarity on some of the key workplace issues that arose during the pandemic. In Clark v. City of Prince George,...more

Bennett Jones LLP

Mixed Success at The B.C. Supreme Court in Rare Common Issues Trial in Employment Class Action

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While applications for certification of class proceedings are commonplace, trials to decide certified common issues on their merits are comparatively rare. The decision in one such common issues trial was recently released in...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

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

Littler

British Columbia, Canada Appeal Court Rejects Employer’s Frustration Defence in Circumstances Connected to COVID-19

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In Aldergrove Duty Free Shop Ltd. v. MacCallum, 2024 BCCA 28, the Court of Appeal for British Columbia (BCCA) dismissed an employer’s appeal when it agreed with the lower court that the employer could not use the frustration...more

Bennett Jones LLP

Fundamental Breach or Reasonable Balance? Alberta Court Affirms Employer’s Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policy

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In the case of Van Hee v Glenmore Inn Holdings Ltd., 2023 ABCJ 244 (Van Hee), Justice L.L. Burt of the Alberta Court of Justice (the Court) held that an employer was justified in unilaterally placing an employee on an unpaid...more

Littler

Alberta, Canada Court Holds Placing Employee on Unpaid Leave for Failure to Comply with Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policy is...

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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

Littler

Ontario, Canada Arbitrator Upholds Reasonableness of Hospital Vaccination Policy Providing for Employment Termination of...

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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

Littler

Ontario, Canada Court Finds Employment Contract Frustrated by Employee’s Refusal to Become Vaccinated Against COVID-19

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In Croke v. VuPoint Systems Ltd., 2023 ONSC 1234, Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice decided that an employee’s refusal to comply with mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirements resulted in the frustration of the parties’...more

Fisher Phillips

Canada: BC Supreme Court Upholds Mandatory Vaccination Policy for Non-Unionized Employees

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The British Columbia Supreme Court recently sided with an employer in its first civil case determining whether employees may be placed on unpaid leave for failing to comply with a mandatory vaccination policy. The court’s...more

Bennett Jones LLP

Alberta Court Confirms Exclusive Jurisdiction of Labour Arbitrator Over Mandatory Vaccination Policy

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The Court of King's Bench of Alberta recently applied the long-standing principle that labour arbitrators have exclusive jurisdiction to adjudicate disputes arising under a collective agreement, even in the context of an...more

Stikeman Elliott LLP

Extraordinary Times Call for Extraordinary Measures: Unpaid Leave for Non-Compliance with Mandatory Vaccination Policy Not...

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With the decision of the British Columbia Supreme Court in Parmar v Tribe Management Inc. 2022 BCSC 1675 (“Parmar”), Canada has its first judicial decision considering whether placing a non-union employee on unpaid leave of...more

Littler

British Columbia Court Finds Employer May Place Employee on Unpaid Leave for Failing to Comply with its Mandatory COVID-19...

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Although arbitrators in Canada have considered whether an employer in a unionized workplace can place an employee on unpaid leave for failing to comply with its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, the British Columbia...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada: Availability of Deemed IDEL Ended on July 30, 2022 But Unpaid and Paid IDEL Still Available to Eligible Employees

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Deemed IDEL No Longer Available - In May of 2020, Ontario filed O. Reg. 228/20, which provided that a non-unionized employee who did not perform their job duties during the “COVID-19 period” because their work hours were...more

Littler

Canada: Alberta Court Finds Employee Resigned and Was Not Constructively Dismissed When He Did Not Comply with Mask Policy

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In Benke v Loblaw Companies Limited, 2022 ABQB 461, the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta (ABQB) dismissed an employee’s claim that he had been constructively dismissed when his employer did not accommodate him with a mask...more

Stikeman Elliott LLP

Constructive Dismissal Unmasked as Resignation: Alberta Court Finds Employee Resigned After Refusing to Comply with Mask Policy

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In Benke v Loblaw Companies Limited, the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench held that the employer did not constructively dismiss one of their employees who had been placed on unpaid leave for failing to comply with a mandatory...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada: Arbitrator Decides Employer Discriminated on Basis of Creed in Denying Request for Vaccine Policy Exemption

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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

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

Ontario Appellate Court Ruling Leaves Employers Waiting for Determination on Interpretation of COVID-19 Leave Provisions

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Employers in Ontario have been waiting for clarification on the interpretation of COVID-19 leave provisions throughout much of the pandemic. Employers had hoped that the Court of Appeal’s decision in Taylor v Hanley...more

Littler

Canada: Key Trends in Arbitration Awards Pertaining to Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policies

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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

Littler

British Columbia, Canada: Arbitrator Upholds Electricity Provider’s Vaccination Policy But Severs Discipline Aspect as...

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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

Littler

British Columbia, Canada: Arbitrator Decides Employer Could Terminate Employee Who Refused Government-Ordered Vaccination

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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

Littler

Ontario, Canada: Another Arbitration Decision Upholds Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policy

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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

Stikeman Elliott LLP

Alberta Labour Relations Board Ices Union Complaint Against Vaccination Policy

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Alberta Labour Relations Board dismisses unfair labour practice complaint against vaccination policy implemented during statutory freeze period. In Amalgamated Transit Union, Local No. 583 v Calgary (City), the Alberta...more

Littler

Alberta, Canada: Arbitrator Decides COVID-19 Pandemic is Cataclysmic Event that Did Not Trigger Entitlement to Severance Under...

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In United Utility Workers’ Association of Canada v Dataco Utility Services Ltd., 2022 CanLII 13414 (AB GAA), Arbitrator John Moreau, Q.C., dismissed 11 grievances filed on behalf of 11 service technicians (Grievors) of Dataco...more

Littler

Canada: Arbitrator Finds Termination Consequences of Long-Term Care Home’s Mandatory Vaccination Policy Violated Collective...

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In Chartwell Housing REIT v. Healthcare, Office and Professional Employees Union, Local 2220, 2022CanLII 6832 (ON LA) (Chartwell), Arbitrator Gail Misra considered a provision in a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy that...more

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