The Competition Bureau Canada is inviting interested parties to provide comments on new guidelines to address wage-fixing and no-poaching agreements (Guidelines). The draft Guidelines describe the Bureau’s approach to enforcing recent amendments to the Competition Act which make wage-fixing and no-poaching agreements illegal and subject to significant criminal penalties in Canada. As we previously noted,…
Practice Area: Employment Law
Bill 26 Passes as Amended, Mandates Post-secondary Institutions to Address Faculty and Staff Sexual Misconduct Towards Students
On December 8, 2022, Bill 26, Strengthening Post-secondary Institutions and Students Act, 2022, as amended, received Royal Assent. We reported on the Bill in our FTR Now of October 28, 2022, Ontario Tables Bill 26 Mandating Post-secondary Institutions to Address Faculty and Staff Sexual Abuse Towards Students in a More Prescriptive Manner. In this FTR…
Amendments to OHSA Regarding Naloxone Kit Requirement Proclaimed into Force – June 1, 2023
The amendments Bill 88, Working for Workers Act, 2022 made to the Occupational Health & Safety Act, which require certain employers to have a naloxone kit in the workplace, have been proclaimed into force effective June 1, 2023. As a result, starting on June 1, 2023, employers who become aware or ought reasonably to be…
Employment Insurance Sickness Benefits Increase to 26 Weeks
The amendments contained in Bill C-30, Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1, which permanently extend the maximum number of weeks available under employment insurance (EI) sickness benefits, have been proclaimed into force effective December 18, 2022. In this FTR Now we consider this development and its implications for employers. Extension from 15 to 26 Weeks…
COVID-19 Year-End Edition
As we near the end of 2022, we reflect back on a year filled with virtual environments, increased connections and a renewed focus on wellness as we made it through another year since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. The pandemic has had a broad-ranging impact on employment law since March 2020. To wrap up…
British Columbia Court of Appeal Finds Canada Emergency Response Benefit Not Deductible from Wrongful Dismissal Damages
On November 29, 2022, the British Columbia Court of Appeal released Yates v. Langley Motor Sport Centre Ltd., in which the Court of Appeal ruled that payments received by an employee under the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) should not be deducted from wrongful dismissal damages. The Court of Appeal held that broader policy considerations,…
Ontario Court Rules Bill 124 is Unconstitutional – What Now?
In a decision dated November 29, 2022, Justice Koehnen of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found that Bill 124, Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019 (the Act or Bill 124) substantially interfered with the applicant unions’ section 2(d) freedom of association rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms…
Court Finds Bill 124 to Be Unconstitutional
On November 29, 2022, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice rendered its decision in Ontario English Catholic Teachers Assoc. v. His Majesty. The Court found that the Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019 (commonly referred to as Bill 124) is contrary to section 2(d) (freedom of association) of the Canadian Charter…
Court of Appeal Denies Injunction Relating to Mandatory Vaccination Policy
The Ontario Court of Appeal recently released its reasons in National Organized Workers Union v. Sinai Health System. The Court dismissed the appeal brought by the National Organized Workers Union (Union) of an Ontario Superior Court decision which refused to stay the implementation of the workplace COVID-19 vaccination policy (Policy) of Sinai Health System (Sinai…
Companion Decisions Regarding Related Employers Released by the Ontario Court of Appeal; Confirm that the Ontario Labour Relations Board Is Owed Deference
On November 16, 2022, the Ontario Court of Appeal released its reasons in Turkiewicz (Tomasz Turkiewicz Custom Masonry Homes) v. Bricklayers, Masons Independent Union of Canada, Local 1 (Turkiewicz) and Enercare Home & Commercial Services Limited Partnership v. UNIFOR Local 975 (Enercare). These companion decisions consider the Ontario Divisional Court’s application of the reasonableness standard…