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.


Human Resources Legislative Update

IPC Provides Important Guidance on New PHIPA Annual Reporting Obligations

· 2 min read By: Hicks Morley

Organizations which provide healthcare and are governed by the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) should note that recent amendments to PHIPA require health information custodians (HICs) to file an annual report disclosing all security incidents involving theft, loss and unauthorized use or disclosure of personal health information to the Information and Privacy Commissioner. At…

Human Resources Legislative Update

The Right to Be Forgotten Comes to Canada

· 3 min read By: Daniel Michaluk

On January 26, 2018, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada issued a new position on the protection of online reputation. In doing so the OPC recognized a right to have personal information de-indexed from search engine results if it is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date. Although the position is in draft, is nonetheless of…

Human Resources Legislative Update

Ontario Seeks Comments on Proposed New Funding Rules for PBGF Assessments

· 2 min read By: Natasha D. Monkman, Jordan Fremont

Much anticipated proposed regulatory amendments respecting the formula for calculating Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund (PBGF) assessments were published by the Ontario government on January 19, 2018 (Proposed Regulations).  With unproclaimed amendments to the Pension Benefits Act (Ontario) set to enhance PBGF protection by increasing the guarantee from $1,000/month to $1,500/month, the proposed changes to the PBGF assessment formula are intended to maintain the viability of the PBGF.

Case In Point

Ontario Court of Appeal Rules (Again) on the Enforceability of an ESA-Only Termination Clause

· 4 min read By: Ryan Plener

The Ontario Court of Appeal has once again considered a minimum entitlements clause in an employment contract and ruled it to be generally enforceable. In Nemeth v Hatch Ltd., an employee with 19 years service was dismissed with 8 weeks’ notice of termination and 19.42 weeks’ salary as severance pay, as well as continued benefits…

Case In Point

Appellate Court Considers Scope of an Employer’s OHSA Obligations to Protect Workers

· 4 min read By: Allison E. MacIsaac

An appellate court recently overturned a decision acquitting a company which had been charged following a workplace fatality, holding that there may be circumstances where an employer is required to do more to protect its workers than what is prescribed under the regulations to the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA). In Ontario (Labour) v….

Minimum Standards Monitor

Planning to Give Notice of Mass Termination under the ESA? What Employers Should Know

· 3 min read By: Paul E. Broad, Amanda Hunter

In a decision rendered on September 26, 2017, an Ontario court held that an employer violated the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) when it failed to file a Form 1 with the Ministry of Labour (MOL) on the same date that that the employer provided approximately 12 months’ working notice of termination to 77 employees. As a result, the employer was not given any credit for the working notice period that preceded the date it filed the Form 1 with the MOL – a period of over one year. Rather, common law damages will be assessed on the basis of a much smaller working notice period of less than 8 weeks. This decision signals that the failure to file a Form 1 contemporaneously with the giving of notice of mass termination may have costly implications for employers.

FTR Now

Changes to the WSIB’s Annual Indexing: Are You Prepared?

· 5 min read By: , Harriet Yiga

Effective January 1, 2018, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) will utilize a single indexing factor to calculate the annual adjustment to all indexed benefits and the legislated amounts as a result of recent amendments to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 (WSIA). To support the implementation of these changes, the WSIB has developed a new policy (18-01-14 Annual Indexing) and revised several existing benefit payment policies. Learn more in this FTR Now.