Insights

Human Resources Legislative Update

Employers Take Note: Incoming Changes to Competition Act

· 1 min read
By: Edward J. O’Dwyer

Employers should take note of recent amendments made to the Competition Act (Act) by Bill C-19, Budget Implementation Act, 2022, No. 1 which will come into force on June 23, 2023. The amendments make it a criminal offence for an employer to conspire, agree or arrange with an unaffiliated employer to fix, maintain, decrease or…

Raising the Bar

Check-in on the Impact of COVID-19 on Wrongful Dismissal Litigation

· 8 min read
By: Edward J. O’Dwyer, Eleanor A. Vaughan

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a broad-ranging impact on employment law since March 2020. Now that we are 18 months into the pandemic, employers may find it helpful to have a check-in on how Canadian courts have, to date, considered the impact of the pandemic on wrongful dismissal claims arising from layoffs and terminations during…

FTR Now

Enforceability of Minimum Standards-Only Termination Clauses in Employment Contracts – What Employers Need to Know

· 4 min read
By: Edward J. O’Dwyer

On January 14, 2021, the Supreme Court of Canada denied the employer’s leave to appeal application from the decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal in Waksdale v Swegon North America. That decision held that termination clauses in employment contracts must be read together and if one contravenes the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA), all…

Federal Post

New Pay Transparency Measures in Certain Federal Workplaces to Come into Force on January 1, 2021

· 3 min read
By: Edward J. O’Dwyer

New pay transparency requirements under the federal Employment Equity Act (Act) have been proclaimed into force effective January 1, 2021, together with supporting amendments made to the Employment Equity Regulations (Amended Regulations). These changes will affect all federally regulated private sector employers who employ 100 or more employees. The Legislative Changes to the Act Federally…

Case In Point

Appellate Court Upholds Termination for Frustration, Duty to Accommodate Not Triggered

· 5 min read
By: Edward J. O’Dwyer

In its recent decision Katz et al. v. Clarke, 2019 ONSC 2188, the Ontario Divisional Court set aside an order of a motion judge, granted the defendant’s summary judgment motion and dismissed the plaintiff’s action. The decision involves important principles relating to frustration of contract and the duty to accommodate a disabled employee. The Court…

FTR Now

An Update on WSIB Rate Framework Reform

· 4 min read
By: Jodi Gallagher Healy, Edward J. O’Dwyer

In March, 2015, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (“WSIB”) proposed a new Rate Framework (“Proposed Framework”) which, if adopted, would fundamentally change the way the WSIB classifies Schedule 1 employers and sets their premium rates (see our FTR Nows of April 17, 2015 “WSIB Rate Framework Reform: Stakeholder Input Invited” and August 21, 2015 “An…

Reaching Out

Reaching Out – Ninth Edition

· 21 min read
By: Edward J. O’Dwyer, Michael S. Smyth, Allison E. MacIsaac, Njeri Damali Sojourner-Campbell, Paul Migicovsky

Dear Friends, It has been an eventful few months since our Spring Edition of Reaching Out. With the playoff run by the Blue Jays and the federal election behind us, we are pleased to provide the Fall Edition of Reaching Out. Allison E. MacIsaac reviews current challenges related to gender identity and gender expression in the…

FTR Now

An Update on WSIB Rate Framework Reform

· 5 min read
By: Jodi Gallagher Healy, Edward J. O’Dwyer

In March 2015, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (“WSIB”) released a preliminary Rate Framework (“Proposed Framework”) which, if adopted, would fundamentally change the way the WSIB classifies Schedule 1 employers and sets their premium rates (see our FTR Now of April 17, 2015 “WSIB Rate Framework Reform: Stakeholder Input Invited”). At the same time,…