On May 28, 2015, the Ontario government introduced Bill 109, the Employment and Labour Statute Law Amendment Act, 2015, proposed legislation intended to effect a number of changes to workplace laws, including: the labour relations provisions of the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997 ("FPPA"); the Public Sector Labour Relations Transition Act, 1997 ("PSLRTA"); and…
Tag: Fire
City Did Not Breach Duty to Accommodate When it Declined Firefighters’ Request for Exception to Mandatory Retirement Policy
In a recent decision, Corrigan v. Corporation of the City of Mississauga [1], the Divisional Court dismissed an application for judicial review of a decision of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (the “Tribunal”), which found that the City of Mississauga did not breach its procedural duty to accommodate when it declined to accommodate suppression…
Arbitrators Address Off-Duty Social Media Comments
Two recent City of Toronto arbitrations have addressed the issue of discipline for off-duty social media comments. On November 12, 2014, Arbitrator Elaine Newman found that the social media comments of an off-duty Toronto firefighter, which disparaged women, the disabled and visible minorities (among others), constituted serious misconduct and damaged the reputation of the Toronto…
Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs (OAFC): Honours John Saunders with President’s Award
On Wednesday, May 7, 2014 Hicks Morley’s John Saunders was honoured at The Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs Gala with the President’s Award. Fire Fighting in Canada‘s May 8, 2014 Editor’s Blog shares highlights from the Gala, and discusses John and Carolyn’s comprehensive work regarding the Elliot Lake Algo Centre mall collapse Inquiry. View Blog
Increased Cancer Coverage Under WSIA for Firefighters
On May 2, 2014, prior to the dissolution of the Legislature, the Ontario government published regulatory amendments to s. 4 of Ontario Regulation 253/07 made under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 (“WSIA”). O. Reg. 113/14 adds the following six cancers to the list of diseases that are prescribed for the purposes of the presumptive…
Ontario Moving Closer to Creating Statutory Presumption for PTSD Claims Made by Emergency Response Workers
Managing mental illness flowing from workers’ compensation claims may become more difficult for emergency management services employers in Ontario. On February 27, 2014, Bill 67, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Amendment Act (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), 2014, passed Second Reading in the Ontario legislature with all-party support, and was referred to Committee for consideration. If passed,…
John Saunders Mentioned in Fire Fighting in Canada
Hicks Morley’s John Saunders was mentioned in the September 3, 2013 edition of Fire Fighting in Canada in an article entitled, “Police deserve higher pay than firefighters, report says.” The article discussed Deloitte’s job-evaluation report, presented by John Saunders at the City of London’s interest arbitration, which concluded that fire fighters do not deserve equal or…
John Saunders Quoted in The London Free Press
Hicks Morley’s John Saunders was quoted in the August 27, 2013 edition of The London Free Press in an article entitled, “Toronto attorney John Saunders argues during arbitration hearing that the old rules are gone and some non-core services should be outsourced.” The article discusses contract arbitration hearings regarding proposed retroactive wage hikes for the…
John Saunders Mentioned in The Globe and Mail
Hicks Morley’s John Saunders was mentioned in the August 8, 2013 edition of The Globe and Mail in Margaret Wente’s article entitled, “A nation of $100,000 firefighters.” Highlighting municipal budgets’ contentions with fire departments, the article attributes firefighters’ high wages and substantive increases to arbitration settlements. Paraphrasing Saunders, “There’s no good reason for salaries to…
Mandatory Retirement Upheld for Suppression Fire Fighters: HRTO Clarifies Accommodation Obligations
In its recent decision, Corrigan v. Mississauga (City), the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (“HRTO”) considered whether a municipal employer had a positive obligation to consider requests for individual exceptions to the mandatory retirement policy of age 60 for suppression fire fighters and to work with those fire fighters to develop a medical fitness testing…