News & Events

  Summary The government of Ontario has tabled legislation to make major changes to labour and employment law in the province. The proposed changes include: Raising the general minimum wage to $15 an hour by January 1, 2019. Changing various features of union certification and first contract dispute resolution procedures, including: extending card-based certification to

On a Summary Judgment motion, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice awarded an Employee $7,500 in damages for mental distress together with damages of $17,076 in lieu of lost income for the Employer’s failure to provide the Employee with a revised notice of termination. The Employee, a 72 year old man, worked as a security

The decision of The Honourable Mr. Justice Miller, of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, released April 18, 2017, considered a claim for defamation by an employee in relation to a reference given by his former employer to a potential future employer. This could have been the first case in which an employer was found

Does an employer’s failure to pay a $300,000 bonus constitute constructive dismissal? Not according to Chapman v. GPM Investment Management, a recent decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal.  Although there was no doubt that the employer had breached the employment contract by failing to pay the bonus, this conduct did not substantially alter an

In an Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench decision, an employer that accepted an employee’s notice of resignation was found to have wrongfully terminated the employment relationship because the resignation was conditioned upon negotiating a fair severance package. The employee worked for the employer in Calgary, Alberta and later in Madagascar for four years and eight

In Evans v. Paradigm Capital Inc., Justice Gans of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice addressed a senior executive’s duty to mitigate following her constructive dismissal, and specifically whether she was required to accept an alternative position from the employer to mitigate her damages. The Employee was hired by the Employer, an institutional investment dealer,

On February 9, 2017 the British Columbia Supreme Court released its decision in Ram v Michael Lacombe Group Inc., which made national headlines due to egregious facts and the quantum of damages awarded to a low-level employee. The Employee worked as a cook at Burger King for over 24 years when she was terminated without

In a recent case, a Judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice outlined the appropriate procedure to be used where summary judgment is awarded to a Plaintiff seeking a notice period which would not expire until after the summary judgment motion. The Plaintiff, a 54 year old Project Manager and Senior Water Resources Engineer,

In a recent decision, Misetich v. Value Village Stores Inc., the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal (“HRTO” or “the Tribunal”) clarified the correct legal test for discrimination on the ground of family status. The decision recognizes that the requirements for establishing discriminatory treatment based on family status should be the same as those for other grounds

The Court of Appeal has re-affirmed the principle arising from the series of employment insurance broker cases of J. G. Collins Insurance Agencies, H.L. Staebler and Shafron, all of which addressed the interpretation of non-solicitation covenants in employment contracts. In Donaldson Travel Inc. v. Murphy, the employer was a travel agency. The employee moved to