Publication Name: Case In Point

Alberta Court of Appeal Considers Restrictive Covenants and Fiduciary Duties

· 4 min read

In Evans v. The Sports Corporation, the Alberta Court of Appeal provides some important guidance on what classes of employees will be considered fiduciaries and what type of conduct will constitute solicitation of clients. Richard Evans was employed for six years by The Sports Corporation (“TSC”) as a sports agent responsible for TSC prospects and…

Arbitrator Considers Employer’s Ability to Collectively Bargain Changes to Retiree Benefits

· 3 min read

In TRW Canada Ltd. and Thompson Products Employees’ Assn. (Retiree Benefits) (Re), collectively bargained changes to vested retiree benefits were found to have been made without lawful authority. The changes had been proposed by the employees’ association (“Association”), following a particularly hard round of collective bargaining, and after the employer threatened to close one of…

Finding that Non-Worker Injury Reportable Under OHSA Overturned by Court of Appeal

· 1 min read

Today, the Court of Appeal for Ontario rendered its long anticipated decision in Blue Mountain Resorts Limited v. Ontario (Labour). It overturned a finding of the Ontario Labour Relations Board, upheld on judicial review by the Divisional Court, that the drowning of a Blue Mountain hotel guest in the hotel’s swimming pool was reportable under…

Court of Appeal for Ontario Finds Restrictive Covenants Unreasonable and Unenforceable

· 1 min read

In Martin v. ConCreate USL Limited Partnership, a decision released yesterday, the Court of Appeal for Ontario determined that the restrictive covenants included in sale of business agreements were unenforceable.  Among other things, the Court found that the duration for the covenants was unreasonable because it was “for an indeterminate period, and there is no fixed,…

Supreme Court of Canada Renders Decision in Indalex

· 1 min read

Today, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its long-awaited decision in Sun Indalex Finance, LLC v. United Steelworkers. The decision contains important findings with respect to, among other matters, the fiduciary duties of plan administrators, the reach of the statutory deemed trust provisions of the Ontario Pension Benefits Act, and the priority given to pension…

Can Hospitals Impose a Dress Code that Prohibits Large Tattoos and Excessive Body Piercings in a Unionized Environment?

· 2 min read

Apparently not, according to Arbitrator Slotnick’s recent award in Ottawa Hospital v CUPE. This award concluded that a hospital’s dress code policy was unenforceable as it required employees to cover up large tattoos and prohibited “visible, excessive body piercings.” The hospital argued that the dress code was minimally intrusive and its goal was to improve…

An Employment Contract, A Without Cause Termination and the Availability of “Unjust Dismissal” Protection

· 1 min read

Klein and The Royal Canadian Mint, a recent adjudication award made under the Canada Labour Code, affirms the proposition that the unjust dismissal provisions do not protect all employees from termination without cause, particularly where such terminations are conducted in accordance with a binding employment contract. In this case, the complainant had signed an employment…