Effective May 20, 2015, amendments to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA“) compliance obligations will come into force. These include new poster requirements and new powers for employment standards officers to order employer “self-audits.” In this FTR Now, we will review the new rules, and the impact that they will have on employers in Ontario….
Publication Name: FTR Now
SCC Clarifies Test for Qualifying as an Expert Witness
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”…
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…
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…
WSIB Rate Framework Reform: Stakeholder Input Invited
On March 31, 2015, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (“WSIB”) released a number of discussion papers which propose a preliminary Rate Framework which, if adopted, would fundamentally change the way the WSIB classifies Schedule 1 employers and sets its premium rates. Under the proposal, the Secondary Injury and Enhancement Fund (“SIEF”) and existing experience…
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…
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…
New BPS Compensation Restraint Law to Come Into Force March 16
The Ontario government’s new compensation restraint legislation – the Broader Public Sector Executive Compensation Act, 2014 (or "BPSECA") – will come into force on Monday, March 16, 2015. While the proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor has not yet been published in The Ontario Gazette, it is listed in the government’s online listing of proclamations and…
Ontario to Consult on Labour and Employment Reform
On February 17, 2015, the Ontario government announced the launch of public consultations to consider reforms to the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (“LRA”) and the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”) in light of the “changing nature of the modern workplace.” In this FTR Now, we highlight key issues that will be under review, and how…
City Did Not Breach Duty to Accommodate When it Declined Firefighters’ Request for Exception to Mandatory Retirement Policy
In a recent decision, Corrigan v. Corporation of the City of Mississauga [1], the Divisional Court dismissed an application for judicial review of a decision of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (the “Tribunal”), which found that the City of Mississauga did not breach its procedural duty to accommodate when it declined to accommodate suppression…