A recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal has significant implications under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) for owners and employers responsible for construction projects. In Ontario (Labour) v. Sudbury (City), the Court of Appeal held that an “owner” of a construction project can also be considered an “employer” with obligations to…
Insights
Hicks Morley publishes a number of materials, both electronic and print, on issue-specific and sector-specific topics of interest to our clients. Our insights section has links to all of our various publications, updates and blogs, both current and historical, to keep you informed of developments in the law that impact human resources.
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Human Resources Legislative Update
On April 15, 2021, the Ontario government tabled Bill 276, Supporting Recovery and Competitiveness Act, 2021, omnibus legislation which would, if passed, amend the Employment Standards Act, 2000 and the Class Proceedings Act, 1992, as well as a number of other statutes. Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) Bill 276 would amend the payment of wages…
Reaching Out
Reaching Out – Fifteenth Edition
· 12 min readDear Friends, We are back with another edition of Reaching Out. With 2020 behind us and some light at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic tunnel, we thought it appropriate to reconnect with our Social Services clients with a Spring edition of Reaching Out. We chose not to publish Reaching Out last year as we…
Case In Point
The Ontario Court of Appeal recently released two decisions which consider the Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (SLAPP) provisions of the Courts of Justice Act. The provisions are aimed at discouraging actions that have the harmful effect of chilling individuals and organizations from speaking out on matters of public interest. The first decision of the…
FTR Now
Employers and human resource professionals will undoubtedly remember 2020 as the “year of the pandemic.” But … there were also legal developments in 2020 that were not related to COVID-19. In this FTR Now, we look at some of the year’s notable “non-pandemic” cases and legislative developments of interest. We also identify some decisions and…
Human Resources Legislative Update
The Ontario government has filed regulatory amendments to the Rules of Civil Procedure (Rules) which come into effect on January 1, 2021. Many of the amendments update the Rules to provide for virtual proceedings and electronic processes. Ontario Regulation 689/20 amends numerous provisions of the Rules relating to hearings by videoconference, electronic certified copies, electronic…
Raising the Bar
For the first time in nearly three decades, significant changes have been made to Ontario’s class proceedings regime. The amendments to the Class Proceedings Act, 1992 (Act)came into effect on October 1, 2020 and are significant in terms of their substance and scope, modifying many key provisions of the existing Act and adding nearly a dozen more.
Case In Point
The Supreme Court of Canada recently released companion decisions interpreting Ontario’s “anti-SLAPP” legislation. The decisions, Bent et al. v. Platnick, et al. and 1704604 Ontario Ltd. v. Pointes Protection Association, et al. were the first to consider the new statutory regime under s. 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act. The anti-SLAPP (“strategic litigation against…
Human Resources Legislative Update
Recent reforms to Ontario’s class action regime will come into effect on October 1, 2020. Ontario’s Smarter and Stronger Justice Act, 2020 (Act), which received Royal Assent on July 8, 2020, amends various statutes related to the province’s courts and justice system. Schedule 4 of the Act makes significant revisions to the Class Proceedings Act,…
Case In Point
On June 26, 2020, the Supreme Court of Canada released Uber Technologies Inc. v. Heller and dismissed an appeal of the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision which held that the arbitration clause in Uber’s standard form services agreement (Agreement) was invalid both because it was unconscionable and because it contracted out of mandatory provisions of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). We previously reported on the Court of Appeal decision.