On June 21, 2024, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its decision in York Region District School Board v. Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario. The decision establishes that Ontario school boards are “government”—and thus subject to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter)—and provides guidance on how alleged breaches of an employee’s Charter-based right…
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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Common Ground? Class Action Updates
In Morris v. Solar Brokers Canada Corp., the Ontario Superior Court of Justice approved a negotiated settlement of $62,000 in a class action arising from the alleged misclassification of individuals as independent contractors. The Court also approved class counsel fees in the amount of $20,000, leaving $42,000 to be distributed amongst the class. As a…
Case In Point
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has granted an interlocutory injunction to end an encampment on the University of Toronto’s Front Campus. The Court found that the University’s Governing Council, as the property owner, has the ultimate right to determine the land’s use. In obiter, the Court also reiterated that the Charter does not apply…
Raising the Bar
In light of the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the legal profession, the Federal Court has issued an updated notice regarding the use of AI in Court proceedings (Notice). The Notice implements procedural safeguards for the use of AI in legal proceedings and imposes certain duties on counsel with respect to AI use….
Common Ground? Class Action Updates
In Wasylyk v. Lyft, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued a stay of a proposed employee misclassification class action in favour of private arbitration. The case provides an illustration of the factors that may support the enforceability of an arbitration clause in disputes related to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). The plaintiff filed…
Common Ground? Class Action Updates
In Welshman v. Central Regional Health Authority, the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador (Court) certified a class action in which the plaintiffs alleged that employees of the defendant, the Central Regional Health Authority, improperly accessed the private personal and medical information of 260 individuals outside of the scope of their employment. The Court’s decision…
Common Ground? Class Action Updates
In Curtis v. Medcan Health Management Inc., Justice Perell of the Ontario Superior Court reined in the scope of the plaintiffs’ proposed discovery plan and constrained the scope of the certified common issues in an ongoing employment class action. This class action relates to an allegation of unpaid vacation and public holiday pay. As we…
Common Ground? Class Action Updates
Class action proceedings often end in negotiated settlements. Those settlements (which must be approved by a court) can be significant in monetary terms. In Manuge v. Canada, the Federal Court recently approved the settlement of a class action arising from the alleged miscalculation and underpayment of disability pension benefits for members and veterans of the…
FTR Now
2023 in Review – Key Legislative Updates
· 10 min readLast week we published “The Year in Review – 2023 Cases of Note.” This week we are back with our review of notable legislative updates from 2023 that we believe will be of interest to employers, human resources professionals and pension plan administrators. We also identify some legislation to watch for in 2024. Ontario Employment…
Common Ground? Class Action Updates
Ontario’s class proceedings legislation was amended in 2020 and the Ontario courts have recently addressed the question of “transition” for cases begun under the “old” version of the legislation. In Martin v. Wright Medical Technology Canada Ltd., the Ontario Court of Appeal confirmed that there is a “bright line” between actions started under the Class…