Arbitrator Sheehan has affirmed that an employer may install and operate video surveillance in a workplace where it has legitimate and serious concerns about safety issues. In this arbitration, a firefighters’ Association grieved the installation of cameras at two fire stations. It argued, among other things, that the requirement that the employees be subject to…
Category: Labour Relations
Sale of Assets and Hiring of Former Employees of Defunct Business not Sale of Business within LRA: OLRB
In a recent case, the Ontario Labour Relations Board (“OLRB”) helped clarify what situations will trigger the operation of the sale of business provisions of the Labour Relations Act (“Act”) particularly when a business purchases the assets and premises of an organization which is unionized. This case may provide guidance for an organization which is…
Can Hospitals Impose a Dress Code that Prohibits Large Tattoos and Excessive Body Piercings in a Unionized Environment?
Apparently not, according to Arbitrator Slotnick’s recent award in Ottawa Hospital v CUPE. This award concluded that a hospital’s dress code policy was unenforceable as it required employees to cover up large tattoos and prohibited “visible, excessive body piercings.” The hospital argued that the dress code was minimally intrusive and its goal was to improve…
Receipt of WSIB Benefits Bars Claim for Additional Monetary Damages at Arbitration
An arbitrator recently affirmed that a grievor is not entitled to monetary damages under a collective agreement where that grievor has received benefits from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (“WSIB”) in respect of the accident for which damages are claimed. Arbitrator Howe considered section 26(2) of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act (“WSIA”) and…
SCC Grants Leave to Appeal in Freedom of Association/Collective Bargaining Case
On December 20, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal in the Mounted Police Association case which considered whether RCMP Regulations dealing with consultations between management and officers offended the freedom of association guarantee found in section 2(d) of the Charter. This case is important because it deals with the scope of…
OLRB Dismisses Related Employer Application Involving an Employer and its Sub-Contractor
A recent decision of the Ontario Labour Relations Board may be of significance to employers who retain sub-contractors on a regular basis. The Board found that York Region and York BRT, an operation which contracted with York Region to provide it with transit services, were not related employers under subsection 1(4) of the Labour Relations…
Activities of a School Board Found to be Construction Activities for the Purposes of the Labour Relations Act
The Court of Appeal for Ontario has upheld a decision of the Divisional Court which found the Ontario Labour Relations Board (“OLRB”) was reasonable in its conclusion that the Greater Essex District School Board (“School Board”) was…
Federal Wage Restraint Legislation Does Not Infringe Section 2(d) of Charter
Underscoring once again that section 2(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (“Charter”) only guarantees a meaningful process of collective bargaining and not a particular result, the Ontario Court of Appeal recently found that wage restraint legislation effectively prohibiting salary increases over a five-year period was not, in and of itself, unconstitutional. Association…