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,…

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…

Supreme Court of Canada Denies Leave to Appeal in Public Sector Wage Restraint Legislation Case

On October 27, 2022, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed an application for leave to appeal Manitoba Federation of Labour et al v The Government of Manitoba. In that case, the Manitoba Court of Appeal (Court) upheld the constitutionality of the province’s public sector wage restraint legislation. The Court based its decision on the case…

Ontario Divisional Court Finds Group Living Home Did Not Discriminate Against Disabled Resident by Enforcing a No Visitor Policy During the COVID-19 Outbreak

On September 22, 2022, the Ontario Divisional Court (Court) released Empower Simcoe v. JL, in which the Court set aside decisions of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (Tribunal). The Court held that Empower Simcoe’s COVID-19 visitor policy (Policy), which temporarily limited visits to essential personnel and was later updated to allow outdoor family visits…

Court Finds that Placing Employee on Unpaid Leave for Failure to Comply with Vaccination Policy was not Constructive Dismissal

In Parmar v Tribe Management Inc., the British Columbia Supreme Court recently found that an employee was not constructively dismissed when she was placed on an unpaid leave of absence for refusing to comply with her employer’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy (Policy). The Court held that the employer’s decision to place the employee on the…

Court Finds ESA-Only Termination Clause Unenforceable Due To Wording of Conflict of Interest and Confidential Information Clauses

In Henderson v. Slavkin et al., the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found that a termination clause in an employment contract which limited entitlements upon termination to only the minimums required by the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) was unenforceable due to the wording of the provisions related to “confidential information” and “conflict of interest.”…

Arbitrator Finds University’s Vaccination Policy to be Reasonable

On July 22, 2022, Arbitrator Wright released a preliminary award, Wilfrid Laurier University v United Food and Commercial Workers Union, in which he found that the University’s mandatory vaccination policy (Policy) was reasonable. In so finding, he cited the fact that the University implemented the Policy in accordance with the instructions and advice issued by…

Class Action Dismissed in Favour of Defendant

In Rebuck v. Ford Motor Company, the Ontario Superior Court recently granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment to dismiss the plaintiff’s class action. The class action involved an allegation of misleading advertising under the federal Competition Act. Factual History In 2014, a consumer filed a lawsuit after noticing that the miles per gallon (MPG)…

Appellate Court Considers Certification Under Class Proceedings Act, 1992 and Requirement That Pleadings Disclose a Cause of Action

In Bowman v Ontario, the Ontario Court of Appeal considered a motion for certification of a class action under the Class Proceedings Act, 1992 (CPA) which was dismissed by a certification judge. The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal in part, concluding that the judge erred in holding that the proposed class action did not…