News & Events

Facts The complaining Employee was employed as a housekeeper at a hotel in Niagara Falls, Ontario where she was allegedly harassed and taunted by her colleagues and supervisor for having an unpleasant odour and for other matters related to a diagnosed medical condition. While still working at the hotel, the Employee filed a human rights

In June 2020, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ruled in favour of an applicant who was the victim of a racial slur during the course of being served at a local pizza franchise. The applicant had just ordered lunch with his friends from high school when one member of the group accidentally cracked a window

It has been a tumultuous year in the land of employment law in Canada.  What had become viewed as rock solid termination provisions began to get thrown out at the end of 2019 in the Court of Appeal decision in Andros v. Colliers Macaulay Nicolls Inc.  and 2020 has seen several other decisions, including Waksdale

In our June 3, 2020 Blog titled O. Reg. 228/20- Ontario Government Effort to Avoid Deemed Terminations and the Onslaught of Constructive Dismissal Claims Under the ESA, we provided you with details of a critical amendment to the Employment Standards Act, 2000(“ESA“),  which prevented temporary layoffs due to COVID-19 from automatically becoming a permanent job

Waksdale v. Swegon North America Inc.: Unenforceable “For Cause” Termination Provisions Render “Without Cause” Termination Provisions Null and Void Over the past few years, the Ontario Court of Appeal has released a number of decisions considering the enforceability of termination provisions. For the most part, the recent jurisprudence has focused on the necessary wording and

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

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 March 17, 2020, the Ontario government declared a state of emergency in response to the COVD-19 pandemic.  Since then, a number of provincial and federal measures have been put in place to assist employers and employees, and also to keep Ontarians safe, during these challenging and unprecedented times. Our collective new reality and employment

A great deal has changed in the past 30 days. COVID-19 has resulted in businesses being required to take economic measures which only weeks before would have never been contemplated: layoffs, salary cuts, even full closures by order of provincial governments. How long will this go on? What will it do to our economy? The