An Appeals Officer of the Occupational Health and Safety Tribunal Canada recently considered the damage caused to the Fukushima nuclear facility by the 2011 Japanese tsunami in the context of a work refusal under the Canada Labour Code. The appellant was a mail sorter with Canada Border Services Agency. Shortly after the Fukushima incident in…
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Arbitrator Finds Video Surveillance Reasonable in Light of Safety Issues in the Workplace
A recent arbitration award has confirmed that where an employer has legitimate concerns regarding safety in the workplace, it may install and operate video surveillance. This decision, which involved surveillance in a fire station to ensure equipment was not tampered with, engaged privacy considerations, the reasonableness of such surveillance and whether the surveillance was conducted…
Court Clarifies Interpretation of Subsection 80(3) of the Pension Benefits Act
The Ontario Divisional Court recently rendered a significant decision under the Pension Benefits Act (Ontario Pension Board v. Ratansi). It overturned a finding of the Financial Services Tribunal that subsection 80(3) of the Pension Benefits Act (“Act”) did not prevent a plan member from commencing his or her pension while continuing to work for the…
Employers Must Investigate Work Refusals
A recent decision under the Occupational Health and Safety Act is a stark reminder to all employers to take any work refusal, no matter how small, seriously. The Ontario Labour Relations Board concluded that an employer failed in its obligations under the OHSA when it terminated an employee, after he refused to drive his faulty…
HRTO Orders Reinstatement of Employee Who Was Terminated Almost a Decade Earlier
In a sweeping remedial decision, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario ordered reinstatement of a non-union employee who was terminated from her employment almost a decade earlier, as well as other remedies such as payment of back wages, as adjusted. In so ordering, the Tribunal explicitly stated that where an employer fails in its duty…
HRTO Considers Whether University’s Response to Potentially Volatile Situation Was Discriminatory
The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario recently provided helpful guidance for employers and educational institutions which are faced with potential unrest due to competing opinions or political views, the genesis of which might be one’s place of origin or ethnic origin. In the case at hand, which involved the removal by a university of controversial…
Altering Vested Retiree Benefits Found to be Unlawful by Arbitrator
A recent arbitration decision serves as an important reminder that if an employer wishes to negotiate changes to retiree benefit entitlements in a unionized workplace for employees who have already retired, it can only do so where the applicable collective agreement contains clear and unambiguous language allowing for such changes. In this case, the employer…
Recent Decisions from Courts of Appeal Provide Guidance on Restrictive Covenants
In a time where employees are unlikely to remain with one employer throughout their working lives, employers often seek to put in place restrictive covenants to limit departing employees from competing with them, soliciting their clients/customers or using confidential information obtained in the course of their employment. The scope of restrictive covenants has recently been…
Proportionate Approach Necessary to Determine Whether Just Cause Exists
The Court of Appeal for Ontario recently confirmed that a proportionate approach must be taken in determining whether a single incident of misconduct by a long-serving employee with a relatively unblemished work record should result in dismissal for cause. In Plester v. PolyOne Canada, the plaintiff failed to lock out a machine prior to working…
Carrigan v. Carrigan Estate Update: Ontario Pension Regulator Supports Common-Law Spouse’s Appeal
As first discussed in our FTR Now of November 7, 2012 “Ontario Court of Appeal Decision Rewrites the Pension Pre-Retirement Death Benefit Regime“, the decision in Carrigan v. Carrigan Estate fundamentally altered the interpretation of spousal rights and priorities relating to payment of pre-retirement death benefits. The Court of Appeal awarded the pre-retirement death benefit payable under…