The Ontario Labour Relations Board recently exercised its discretion under section 1(4) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 and dismissed a related employer application without a hearing. The union, which had exercised its bargaining rights with a subcontractor, alleged that the principle of that subcontractor was a “ghost at the bargaining table” and was in…
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Non-Construction Employers and the Construction Industry Provisions of the Labour Relations Act
Employers that are bound to a construction collective agreement and that do not operate within the construction industry find themselves, from time to time, involved in some kind of construction activity. It is important that these employers are aware that in certain cases, their construction activities may keep them within the construction industry provisions of…
Check your email recipient list before you press “send”
Employers must take care not to press the “send” button too soon as inadvertently copying an incorrect person on an email communication can have unintended results. In Fernandes v. Marketforce Communications, an employer emailed information to its lawyer setting out concerns regarding the continued employment of an employee. By mistake, that employee was copied on…
HRTO finds applicant breached confidentiality provision of settlement
The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario recently found that an applicant breached the confidentiality provisions of her human rights settlement when she posted information about the settlement on Facebook. When the respondent learned of the breach, it refused to pay the monies owing under the settlement, and the applicant brought an application before the Tribunal…
October 1 Deadline to Display New Health and Safety Poster
Ontario employers must find room on their bulletin boards by October 1, 2012 to display a new Ministry of Labour poster entitled “Health and Safety at Work: Prevention Starts Here.” The poster was developed in response to a recommendation of the Expert Advisory Panel to review Ontario’s occupational health and safety system and summarizes key…
Pension Assignments Must be Clear and Unambiguous
On July 27, 2012, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice held that if a pension plan member wishes to assign an interest in his or her pension entitlement to a former spouse, the language of the separation agreement or divorce order must be clear and unambiguous. Since the language of the separation agreement and divorce…
Pay Equity Guide Now Available
The Pay Equity Commission has published “A Guide to Interpreting Ontario’s Pay Equity Act” (August 2012). The Guide provides an overview of the interpretation by the Pay Equity Office of the minimum requirements of the Pay Equity Act, and is primarily intended to provide employers with guidance as to their obligations under that legislation. View…
Misuse of Confidential Information – Are You Prepared?
An employee’s misuse of confidential information housed on computers or electronically can expose an employer’s business to serious risk of harm and potential liability. Improperly managed, these situations can create a crisis: witness Bank of America and the WikiLeaks threat. Hicks Morley has been successful in assisting clients who have had their confidential information misused…
Super Priority for CCAA Charges Granted Preference Over Pension Deficits
On February 2, 2012, in On Re Timminco, the Commercial Court granted an order for “super priority” for an Administration Charge ($1,000,000) and Directors’ and Officers’ Charge ($400,000) in preference to other encumbrances, including pension deficits in Timminco’s pension plans (aggregate deficit is in excess of $11,000,000). Justice Morawetz found that federal insolvency legislation, specifically…
Personal information received on an unsolicited basis is not “collected”
The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario issued a notable privacy investigation report this past summer under of the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the “Act“). The complainants complained, amongst other things, that the Municipality in issue had improperly collected their personal information contained in correspondence they sent to the Municipality,…