News & Events

With various Canadian provinces and territories declaring states of emergency as a result of the outbreak of COVID-19, many workplaces have directed their employees to work from home. While we live in an era where most businesses are prepared and equipped for their employees to work remotely, there remain a number of challenges in ensuring

Nancy Shapiro spoke at the FICPI Webinar: “How will the world look after lockdown?”, on May 20, 2020. The topics for discussion were as follows: Hidden HR and health risks of remote work Dealing with an employee’s Covid-19 diagnosis Establishing return to work protocols for staff and visitors Creating safe working environments for your employees To

The inequality of bargaining power in the employment relationship has now been a long recognized fact by Canadian Courts.  Now, whether or not the Uber drivers forming the ‘class’ pursuing action against Uber are employees or not has yet to be determined. The action seeks to declare them employees and seeks damages for infringement of

In the recent decision of Graham v. Enterprise Rent A Car Canada Company representing Enterprise, Alamo, and National Car Rental, the applicant alleged that the respondents discriminated against her on the basis of her race, colour, place of origin, and disability in the area of goods, services and facilities contrary to the “Code”. The applicant

The CRA has issued a Technical Interpretation, acknowledging that Private Health Services Plans (“PHSPs”) members may have been unable to use their allocated Health Care Spending Account (“HCSA”) credits during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the restriction on services available. The CRA advises that in light of the extraordinary circumstances of the crisis, it has

On Friday May 29, 2020, by O. Reg 228/20, Infectious Disease Emergency Leave (“Regulation”), the Ontario provincial government enacted an important new regulation under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”), which materially amends the ESA for the period applying retroactively from March 1, 2020 until 6 weeks after the state of emergency is extinguished (the

On May 22, 2020, FSRA released Guidance on its approach to reviewing applications for commuted value transfers and annuity purchases under sections 19(4) and 19(5) of the Pension Benefits Act’s Regulation 909. The newly released Guidance addresses what restrictions apply to a Plan Administrator when a defined benefit pension plan’s transfer ratio has declined by

Effective June 8, 2020, all in-person hearings scheduled before the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT) will be converted to teleconference hearings unless the Scheduling Administration Manager is satisfied that another alternative hearing method is appropriate. If a party objects to proceeding by teleconference, their objection will be addressed by the Vice-Chair or Panel

Effective June 8, 2020, all in-person hearings scheduled before the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT) will be converted to teleconference hearings unless the Scheduling Administration Manager is satisfied that another alternative hearing method is appropriate. If a party objects to proceeding by teleconference, their objection will be addressed by the Vice-Chair or Panel

The Government of Canada has apparently decided that it will not permit Supplemental Unemployment Benefit (“SUB”) plans to make Canada Emergency Response Benefit (“CERB”) top-up payments to members. Although the government has not formally announced this apparent decision, it has published the following on the ‘Questions and Answers on the Canada Emergency Response Benefit’ page. Q: