News & Events

As many readers are already aware, the new Personal Emergency Leave provisions in s. 50 of the Employment Standards Act, as well as the provisions in the Regulations that provide an exemption to construction employers allowing them to pay .8% of an employee’s hourly rate or wages (“Personal Emergency Pay”) in lieu of providing paid

The Michaels v. Red Deer College decision of the Supreme Court of Canada from 1976 held that employees pursuing wrongful dismissal damages have a duty to mitigate their damages.  Mitigation earnings reduce the liability of the employer for damages during the notice period to the extent of those earnings.  But what if the terminated employee

In Law Society of British Columbia v Trinity Western University[1] and a companion appeal, Trinity Western University v Law Society of Upper Canada,[2] the majority of the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed the appropriate test for reviewing the decisions of administrative tribunals that engage rights found in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This

The Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017[1] (“SFO”) comes into force on July 1, 2018, repealing and replacing the Electronic Cigarettes Act, 2015[2] and the Smoke-Free Ontario Act[3] (collectively, the “Repealed Acts”). Most notably for employers, the SFO contains new posting requirements for signs and prohibitions regarding the use of medical cannabis. The SFO expands on the

Ontarians head to the polls on June 7th, and the results could mean big changes for labour and employment law. While the Liberals are promising to maintain the status quo, the Progressive Conservatives are taking aim at future increases to the minimum wage and the NDP hopes to make sweeping changes to both the labour

On January 23, 2018, a senior British Columbia arbitrator, John Kinzie, released a significant decision concerning random drug and alcohol testing in unionized workplaces.  The decision, USW Locals 7884 and 9346 v. Teck Coal Ltd.[1] followed the ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada in Irving Pulp and Paper[2], and built upon on the arbitral

On January 1, 2018, a number of amendments to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”) came into effect under Bill 148. These amendments required substantial updates to employer practices, policies, and handbooks. One of the amendments was to the public holiday pay formula in Part X of the ESA.  However, the new rules and formula

On April 20, 2018, the Government of Ontario filed long anticipated amendments to the general regulations under the Pension Benefits Act, which significantly change the funding requirements for defined benefit pension plans.  The regulations are the product of a public consultation begun by the Ontario government, initially announced in the 2015 Ontario Economic Outlook and

In Canadian Elevator Industry Welfare Trust Fund v Skinner, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal considered what constituted discrimination in the denial of access to coverage for medicinal marijuana, emphasizing the deference that courts and tribunals will give to the administrator of a benefit plan in choosing what drugs the plan will cover. The case

The issue of what a court will do when faced with a claim for variable compensation in the form of a Carried Interest Plan, much like a profit sharing plan, in which profit was recognized some 3-7 years following the initial investment, came before the Honourable Mr. Justice Monahan recently. In a decision released in