In Aguele v. Family Options Inc., the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) confirmed that the duty to accommodate in the context of a family status accommodation scheduling request is not unlimited. An employee has an obligation to accept accommodation that is reasonable in the circumstances, failing which an employer’s accommodation obligation is discharged. This…
Publication Name: Case In Point
Ontario Court Declares Back-To-Work Legislation in College Sector Constitutional
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has just released an important decision upholding the constitutionality of the Ontario government’s 2017 back-to-work legislation in the college sector. The legislation in question was the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Labour Dispute Resolution Act, 2017 (Act). The Act legislated the end to the longest college-sector strike in…
Ontario Court Grants Injunction to End Encampment at University of Toronto
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has granted an interlocutory injunction to end an encampment on the University of Toronto’s Front Campus. The Court found that the University’s Governing Council, as the property owner, has the ultimate right to determine the land’s use. In obiter, the Court also reiterated that the Charter does not apply…
Student Violence May Form Basis for a Teacher’s Lawful Work Refusal
A recent Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) decision found that two teachers engaged in a lawful work refusal when they refused to return to work following a classroom incident where a student engaged in a violent episode against another staff member. In Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association v Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, three teachers…
Court of Appeal Confirms Employment Contract Frustrated by Failure to Comply with Mandatory Vaccination Requirement
In Croke v. VuPoint Systems Ltd., the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld a motion judge’s decision that an employee’s failure to comply with his employer’s vaccination requirements amounted to a frustration of contract, disentitling him to wrongful dismissal damages at common law. The lower court decision was discussed in our Case in Point of March…
Ontario Court of Appeal Finds Plaintiff Did Not Fail to Mitigate, Upholds $50,000 Aggravated Damages Award for Manner of Dismissal
A recent Court of Appeal decision provides an illustration of when an employee may successfully claim they were unable to mitigate due to physical incapacity. It also provides a reminder of the factors a court will examine to determine if an employee is entitled to aggravated damages for the manner of dismissal. Krmpotic v. Thunder…
Supreme Court of Canada: Exclusion of Managers from Definition of “Employee” in Québec Labour Code Does Not Violate the Charter
On April 19, 2024, the Supreme Court rendered Société des casinos du Québec inc. v. Association des cadres de la Société des casinos du Québec in which it concluded that the exclusion of managers from the definition of “employee” in the Québec Labour Code (Code) does not violate the right to freedom of association found…
Ontario Divisional Court Finds Arbitrator’s Decision to Reinstate Terminated Grievors Was “Fatally Flawed”
On April 2, 2024, the Ontario Divisional Court released its decision in Metrolinx v. Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1587, which was a judicial review of an arbitration decision rendered by the Grievance Settlement Board (GSB). The Court found that the decision of the arbitrator, in which he reinstated five grievors whose employment had been terminated…
OLRB Considers Employer’s Disclosure Obligations Under OHSA After Workplace Harassment Investigation
The Ontario Labour Relations Board (the OLRB) has provided guidance on the extent of an employer’s disclosure obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) when an investigation into workplace harassment has been conducted. In Shannon Horner v Stelco Inc. Lake Erie (Shannon Horner), the OLRB considered, for the first time, an employer’s disclosure…
Divisional Court Confirms Concurrent Jurisdiction Model Applies to Human Rights Disputes in Unionized Workplaces
The Divisional Court has confirmed that Ontario labour arbitrators share concurrent jurisdiction with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (Tribunal) over human rights disputes that arise in a unionized workplace. As reported in our FTR Now of October 6, 2022, in Weilgosh v. London District Catholic School Board, the Tribunal determined it shared jurisdiction with…