News & Events

As public health responses adapt to an ongoing and evolving COVID-19 pandemic, now dominated by the Omicron variant, arbitrators continue to consider whether mandatory workplace vaccination policies remain reasonable. In two recent decisions, Alectra Utilities Corporation v Power Workers’ Union and FCA Canada Inc. v Unifor, Locals 195, 444, 1285, labour arbitrators recognized the importance

With the summer months here and many workplaces and employees focused on upcoming time off, it is important that workplaces ensure that they are up to date on new workplace requirements in Ontario. Right to Disconnect Policy For the first year of this new requirement, employers that employed 25 or more employees on January 1,

It is not a criminal act to record conversations where you have the consent of one of the parties, typically by the one who is doing the recording.  However, we now have a case out of British Columbia finding, criminal or not, it was an invasion of privacy and was cause for the termination of

On April 5, 2022, the Government of Ontario announced that the general minimum wage rate will increase to $15.50 per hour on October 1, 2022. This increase will represent a $0.50 increase from the $15.00 per hour minimum wage which was implemented on January 1, 2022. The general and specialized minimum wage rates that will

On April 7, 2022, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled the federal government’s (the “Government“) 2022 budget  (the “2022 Budget“), entitled “A Plan to Grow Our Economy and Make Life More Affordable”. Of particular interest to unions and pension and benefit plan administrators are announcements concerning public dental and pharmacare programs, the loosening of borrowing rules

The Working for Workers Act, 2021 Recently, the Ontario government introduced significant changes to workplace laws, intended to provide a wide array of benefits to employees in the province.  On December 2, 2021, Bill 27: Working for Workers Act, 2021 (“Workers Act“) received Royal Assent. Two of the most notable changes are: i) a prohibition on

On February 11, 2022, the Government of Ontario filed Ontario Regulation 66/22 (the “Regulation”), which amends the General regulations under the Pension Benefits Act to exempt defined contribution pension plans from certain regulatory requirements.  The Regulation specifically exempts such pension plans from 1) the requirement to file an auditor’s report with FSRA where the assets

On February 4, 2022, the Department of Finance released draft legislation that will, subject to certain conditions, permit administrators of defined contribution (“DC”) pension plans to correct past contribution errors.  The proposed amendments can be accessed at https://fin.canada.ca/drleg-apl/2022/ita-lir-0222-1-eng.html. The current Income Tax Act (the “ITA”) rules governing DC pension plans do not allow for “catch-up”

In a recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the principles in the now infamous Waksdale v. Swegon North America Inc., 2020 ONCA 391 decision were applied to a fixed term contract, striking out a termination clause where the ‘for cause’ termination provision was broader than permitted by the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000

In a decision issued on February 7, 2022, Arbitrator Gail Misra struck down an employer’s policy for mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 to the extent that the policy contemplated termination as an “automatic” penalty for non-compliance. The decision deals with a policy grievance by Healthcare, Office and Professional Employees Union, Local 2220 (“the Union”) against Chartwell