In a fast-paced workplace, misdirected emails can easily happen and may occasionally result in an embarrassing disclosure of information to the wrong person. A recent decision of the Divisional Court confirms that the inadvertent email can also result in significant legal consequences for employers. In Fernandes v. Marketforce Communications, the employer forwarded the email of a…
Publication Name: Case In Point
What Happens When an Employee Breaches a Confidentiality Provision in a Human Rights Settlement?
In Tremblay v. 1168531 Ontario Inc., the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario issued its first decision in which it held an applicant accountable for breaching a confidentiality clause in a settlement arising from the resolution of a human rights application brought against her employer. The employee had signed an agreement to maintain the confidentiality of…
HRTO and Developments in the Law of Reconsideration
Organizations which have experience litigating matters at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (the “Tribunal”) are likely aware that unsuccessful parties often utilize the Tribunal’s “reconsideration” process to attempt to overturn those decisions. While the Tribunal regularly issued reconsideration decisions, it was quite rare for it to grant a reconsideration request. However, recent decisions suggest…
Significant Decision on Pre-Retirement Death Benefits Rendered by Ontario Court of Appeal
On October 31, 2012, the majority of the Ontario Court of Appeal departed from the pension industry’s widely held interpretation of section 48 of the Pension Benefits Act when it awarded the pre-retirement death benefit payable under an Ontario registered pension plan to a member’s designated beneficiaries rather than to the member’s common law spouse….
Court Orders for Preservation of Evidence: What You Need to Know
We are all familiar with the concept of a search warrant, from watching police dramas on TV or in a movie theatre. But you may not know that the courts can issue a type of search warrant to litigants in a civil case. These are called “Anton Piller” orders, and they are typically meant to…
Supreme Court of Canada Grants Leave in Cyber-Picketing Case
The Supreme Court of Canada has granted leave to appeal in United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 401 v Alberta (Attorney General), a decision from the Alberta Court of Appeal which raised extremely broad questions about the constitutionality of Alberta’s commercial sector privacy statute in disposing of a dispute about the right of a union…
Arbitrator Uses Proportionality Approach in Determining Discipline of Multiple Employees
A recent arbitration decision provides useful insight for employers about the nuance that an arbitrator may apply to review a penalty decision and as well serves as a reminder that employers ought to be careful to consider all factors when imposing discipline, especially when there are multiple employees involved. In Bell Technical Solutions v. Communications,…
Supreme Court of Canada Renders Decision on Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in Workplace Computer
The Supreme Court of Canada rendered R. v. Cole in which it unanimously held that employees have a diminished but reasonable expectation of privacy in the use of their workplace computers. This case involved a warrantless police search of the accused’s workplace computer, which contained materials alleged to be child pornography. That evidence was excluded…
Federal Court of Appeal Interpretation Stands: Remuneration of Office-Holders Pensionable for CPP Purposes
On October 4, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada denied leave to appeal from the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision in Minister of National Revenue and Real Estate Council of Alberta (“RECA”), and in doing so has helped to clarify how certain amounts paid to board members, council members and office-holders are to be treated…
Operation of Pension and Benefit Plans do not Discriminate on the Basis of Age: Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario
Recent decisions of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (the “Tribunal”) provide welcome guidance for employers who have been confronted with allegations that provisions of their pension and benefit plans discriminate on the basis of age under the Ontario Human Rights Code (the “Code”). In several decisions the Tribunal has held that some age-based distinctions…