This is our fourth client update related to the Interim Report of the Special Advisors under Ontario’s Changing Workplaces Review (Review). In this FTR Now, we will focus on the options identified by the Special Advisors as potential changes to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA)…
Practice Area: Employment Law
Changing Workplaces Review – Focus on the Labour Relations Act, 1995
In our third client update related to the Interim Report of the Special Advisors under Ontario’s Changing Workplaces Review (Review), we focus on the options identified by the Special Advisors as potential changes to the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (LRA)…
Changing Workplaces Review – Personal Emergency Leave
On July 27, 2016, we circulated an FTR Now advising clients of the release of the Interim Report of the Special Advisors who are conducting the Changing Workplaces Review (Review). In this, our first follow-up FTR Now, we will focus on Personal Emergency Leave (PEL) under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) as that entitlement is being singled out for earlier consideration in the Review…
Changing Workplaces Review – Interim Report Issued
Since May 2015, two government-appointed Special Advisors – Mr. Justice John Murray and Mr. Michael Mitchell – have been undertaking the Changing Workplaces Review (Review) to consider the changing nature of the workplace, the causes behind those changes, and whether the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (LRA) and the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) need to be amended to meet challenges created by the changes…
Supreme Court of Canada Majority Rules “Unjust Dismissal” Provisions of Canada Labour Code Prohibit Without Cause Dismissals of Non-Unionized Employees
In an important decision for federally regulated employers, Wilson v. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, a majority of the Supreme Court of Canada has found the “unjust dismissal” provisions of Part III of the Canada Labour Code (Code) prohibit “without cause” dismissal of non-managerial, non-unionized employees with at least 12 months consecutive service, thereby allowing those employees to access the remedial relief (reasons, reinstatement, equitable relief) available under the Code.
Employer’s Egregious Mistreatment of Disabled Employee Leads to Increase in Damages Award
In a recent wrongful dismissal case, Strudwick v. Applied Consumer & Clinical Evaluations Inc., the Court of Appeal increased the amount of damages awarded to an employee from $113,782 to $240,000, for what the Court of Appeal described as “a marked departure from any conceivable standard of decent behaviour” in an employer’s treatment of its employee…
Appellate Court Considers Intentions of Parties, Finds an ESA-Only Termination Clause Valid
We previously reported on a decision in which a motion judge of the Ontario Superior Court considered…
Arbitrator Rules MOE Memo Restricting Payment of Post-Retirement Benefits Cannot Override Terms of Employment Contract
In Piddisi v Toronto Catholic District School Board, a decision released on June 7, 2016, Arbitrator William Marcotte awarded a retired Supervisory Officer (SO) formerly employed by the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) damages for the TCDSB’s failure to pay premiums for post-retirement benefits…
ESA and AODA Changes Employers Should Note
Employers should be aware of recent changes related to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) – a new Hours of Work and Overtime Pay…
New ESA Rules for Tips and Gratuities Now in Effect
Effective June 10, 2016, reforms to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) enacted by Bill 12…