Occupational disease claims can be very expensive for Schedule 2 employers, particularly those that have a fire department. However, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Tribunal (WSIAT) has recently provided employers with some relief from the costs of occupational disease claims. BACKGROUND In 2007, the Provincial Government passed Bill 221, which introduced a presumption that various…
Publication Name: FTR Now
Amendments Made to Temporary Help Agency Bill
On December 10, 2008, we notified clients of the Ontario Government’s plan to amend the Employment Standards Act, 2000 to regulate temporary help agencies. In our FTR Now, “Newsflash: Ontario Government to Amend the Employment Standards Act, 2000”, we discussed the content and impact of Bill 139, the Employment Standards Amendment Act (Temporary Help Agencies),…
Ontario Government Introduces Workplace Violence Legislation
On April 20, 2009, the Ontario Government introduced amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act (Act) to address workplace violence and harassment. If passed, Bill 168, the Occupational Health and Safety Amendment Act (Violence and Harassment in the Workplace), 2009, would require employers to develop policies to address workplace violence and harassment and to…
Ontario Budget 2009
INTRODUCTION Yesterday, Ontario’s Minister of Finance introduced the 2009 Ontario Budget in the Legislature, which is optimistically titled “Confronting the Challenge: Building Our Economic Future”. The Budget aims to kick-start the battered Ontario economy through its twin centrepieces: tax reform and infrastructure spending. While much attention will be focused on the Budget’s proposal to harmonize…
Transforming Human Resources Practices Under The Proposed AODA “Employment Accessibility Standard”
Employers in Ontario should pay careful attention to the proposed Employment Accessibility Standard (the “Standard”) under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (the “AODA”) released for public comment in February 2009. If approved in its present form, the proposed Standard will transform how employers deal with employees and potential employees in all phases…
Medical Information Management For Employers
We would like to build this bulletin around the diagram below, which illustrates a very common model by which employers manage medical information – i.e., one in which the employer seeks information from an employee’s treating physician through its own medical adviser. The point we’d like to make is that role definition is key to…
Federal Government Consults on Changes to Labour Standards
The Federal Government has launched a consultation process to determine whether changes should be made to federal labour standards legislation, which is found in Part III of the Canada Labour Code (the “Code”) and the Canada Labour Standards Regulations. The consultations cover a wide range of subjects, and, if acted upon, would have a significant…
Federal Budget 2009
INTRODUCTION Acknowledging that Canada is “passing through an extraordinary time”, including the twin threats of a global financial crisis and deepening economic recession, the federal Government tabled its 2009 budget (the “Budget”), “Canada’s Economic Action Plan”, in the House of Commons yesterday. The Budget is designed to improve access to financing, strengthen Canada’s financial system,…
The Supreme Court Rules on the Enforcement of Restrictive Covenants
In an important decision released today, the Supreme Court of Canada has found that restrictive covenants in employment contracts intended to limit an employee’s right to compete against its employer after the employment relationship ends will be unenforceable if they contain ambiguous language or unreasonable terms, subject only to very limited exceptions. This case sends…
Towards Meaningful Solvency Funding Relief
Last month, the Ontario Government announced that it will be implementing regulations to the Pension Benefits Act aimed at providing solvency funding relief to pension plan sponsors in Ontario. As set out in Hicks Morley’s FTR Now: Ontario Government Announces Pension Funding Relief, the exact details of what form the regulatory relief will take are…