1098 Results

The Employment Standards Act and Employment Contracts

Employers who are party to an employment contract which stipulates an employee is limited to the minimum statutory entitlements upon termination should be sure that those termination provisions are not offside the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”). Otherwise, an employer may find that the provisions are not enforceable and that it is liable for payment…

Ontario Government Introduces Budget 2013

On May 2, 2013, the Ontario government tabled its Budget 2013, “A Prosperous and Fair Ontario” as well as Bill 65, Prosperous and Fair Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2013, legislation which, if passed, would implement certain initiatives contained in the Budget.   Among other things, the measures contained in the Budget of interest to employers…

Rachel Arbour Interviewed in the CBA National Magazine

Hicks Morley’s Rachel Arbour was interviewed in the April-May 2013 edition of the CBA National Magazine in an article entitled “Pensions vs. insolvency“. In the article, Rachel answers a series of questions regarding the implications of the Indalex ruling highlighting the expanded deemed trust and pension plan governance aspects of the decision. View Article

No Charter-Protected Right to Strike Says Saskatchewan Court Of Appeal

In a much-anticipated decision – Government of Saskatchewan v. Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, 2013 SKCA 43 – a five-member panel of the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has found that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the “Charter“) does not guarantee a right to strike for unions and their members. Rather, the Court found that…

Saskatchewan Court of Appeal Finds Right to Strike Not Protected by Freedom of Association Guarantee in Charter

A five-member panel of the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has overturned a lower court decision which had found in part that restrictions on the right to strike in The Public Service Essential Services Act infringed the freedom of association guarantee in section 2(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Court of Appeal…

Federal Health and Safety Tribunal Considers Fukushima Nuclear Incident in Context of Canadian Work Refusal

An Appeals Officer of the Occupational Health and Safety Tribunal Canada recently considered the damage caused to the Fukushima nuclear facility by the 2011 Japanese tsunami in the context of a work refusal under the Canada Labour Code. The appellant was a mail sorter with Canada Border Services Agency. Shortly after the Fukushima incident in…

Federal Appeals Officer Confirms Work Refusal Must Be Based on More Than “Hypothesis or Conjecture”

The Occupational Health and Safety Tribunal Canada has found that there was insufficient evidence of radiation contamination on parcels arriving from Japan after the Fukushima nuclear incident in 2011 to warrant a work refusal at a mail sorting facility. For a reasonable expectation of danger to exist, there must be more than hypothesis or conjecture….

Concerted Withdrawal of Voluntary/Extracurricular Activities by Teachers Declared an Unlawful Strike

In a landmark ruling, and after much anticipation, the Ontario Labour Relations Board (“OLRB”) has finally rendered its decision in the longstanding debate about whether the withdrawal, in combination or in concert, of participation in voluntary extracurricular activities by teachers constitutes a “strike” within the meaning of the Education Act. In this FTR Now, we…