Expert evidence has been a hot topic in Canadian law recently. Following this trend, in White Burgess Langille Inman v. Abbott and Haliburton Co., the Supreme Court of Canada considered the duty owed by an expert witness to the court to be independent, impartial and unbiased. The Court clarified that where an expert is “unable”…
Industry: Social Services
Ontario Budget 2015
On April 23, 2015, the Ontario Minister of Finance tabled the 2015 provincial Budget, “Building Ontario Up” (“Budget”), and Bill 91, Building Ontario Up Act (Budget Measures), 2015 (“Bill 91”), omnibus legislation designed to implement some of the proposals contained in the Budget. In this FTR Now, we highlight some of the key proposals that…
2015 Ontario and Federal Budgets Released
On April 23, 2015, the Ontario government tabled the 2015 provincial Budget, “Building Ontario Up” (“Budget”) and Bill 91, Building Ontario Up Act (Budget Measures), 2015 (“Bill 91”), supporting omnibus legislation designed to implement some of the proposals contained in the Budget. We are in the process of reviewing the Budget and Bill 91, and…
Federal Budget 2015
On April 21, 2015, the Minister of Finance tabled the 2015 Federal Budget, “Strong Leadership: A Balanced-Budget, Low-Tax Plan for Jobs, Growth and Security.” This FTR Now focuses on some of the key proposals that are of particular interest to employers, human resources professionals and pension plan administrators. These include: changes to registered retirement income…
HRTO Clarifies the Scope of Employer and Service Provider Code Obligations
Two recent decisions from the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (“HRTO”) provide helpful guidance on the scope of employer and service provider obligations under the Human Rights Code (“Code”), including the proper scope of the duty to accommodate and the question of who may bring a Code application. In this FTR Now, we review these…
FSCO Updates Form 1 (Pension Plan Registration), Asset Transfer FAQs
On April 7, 2015, the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (“FSCO”) published a revised Application for Registration of a Pension Plan, Form 1 and added new frequently asked questions for plan administrators (“FAQs”) with respect to Multi-Jurisdictional Pension Plan Asset Transfers, among other things. The Form 1 has been updated to provide FSCO with additional…
Government Issues BPS Compensation Information Directive
On March 24, 2015, the Management Board of Cabinet issued the Broader Public Sector Compensation Information Directive (the “Directive”) under the Broader Public Sector Executive Compensation Act, 2014 (the “BPSECA”). The Directive came into effect on April 1, 2015. In this FTR Now, we will briefly review the Directive and its role within the scheme…
Indefinite Suspensions with Pay: The SCC Clarifies the Test for Constructive Dismissal
The Supreme Court of Canada recently considered the common law doctrine of constructive dismissal in Potter v. New Brunswick Legal Aid Services, where a majority of the Court (with two justices concurring in the result) concluded that placing an employee on an indefinite administrative suspension with pay constituted constructive dismissal. It found that even where…
Ontario Minimum Wage Increasing to $11.25 on October 1, 2015
On March 19, 2015, the Ontario government announced that the general minimum wage will increase from $11 to $11.25 per hour, effective October 1, 2015. A list of the new minimum wage rates for students, liquor servers, hunting and fishing guides and homeworkers is available on the Ministry of Labour’s website. Background information on the…
The HRTO and the Duty to Accommodate: How Far Does an Employer Have to Go?
In a helpful decision for employers, Pourasadi v. Bentley Leathers, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (“HRTO”) found that an employer’s duty to accommodate did not extend to altering the essential duties of a position. In this case, the Applicant, a retail store manager, requested a workplace accommodation for a wrist injury which prevented her…