News & Events

“. . . the majority has chosen the winners by turning the First Amendment into a sword, and using it against workaday economic and regulatory policy . . . The First Amendment was meant for better things. It was not meant to undermine but to protect democratic governance – including over the role of public-sector

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

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

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

For decades, the Ontario Labour Relations Board has considered only the wishes of those persons employed in the bargaining unit on the date of application in construction industry proceedings. “Steady eddies”, disabled employees, and others who are absent from work on the date of application for any number of reasons are thereby excluded from the

Recent amendments to the Ontario Labour Relations Act, added after the passage of Bill 148, have created a new tool for trade unions to assist with their organizing campaigns.  Unions can now make an application to the Labour Relations Board for an order requiring an employer to provide a list of its employees to the