In Cecchetto v. Canada (Attorney General), the Federal Court recently considered a decision of the Appeal Decision of the Social Security Tribunal (SST) which denied leave to appeal a finding of the General Division of the SST that the applicant was not entitled to employment insurance (EI) benefits when his employment was terminated for failure…
Topic: Coronavirus (COVID-19)
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…
Ontario Makes Changes to COVID-19 Requirements in Long-Term Care Homes
Effective October 14, 2022, Ontario has made a number of changes to COVID-19 requirements in long-term care homes (LTC Homes), as set out in the document titled “COVID-19 guidance document for long-term care homes in Ontario.” Active screening for COVID-19 is no longer required when visitors and caregivers are entering a facility (although it remains…
COVID-19 and WSIB Claim Costs
Public Health Ontario publishes weekly epidemiological summaries regarding COVID-19 in Ontario. The most recent report, published October 7, 2022, noted a gradual increase in case trends and percent positivity over the past three weeks. Current projections suggest that weekly case numbers may continue to rise over the coming weeks. Given forecasted increases, here is a…
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…
Advised and represented hospitals and private sector employers on various pandemic-related issues.
Advised and represented hospitals and private sector employers on various pandemic-related issues.
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…
Arbitrator Finds Grievor was Prima Facie Discriminated Against when Employer Denied her Requested Exemption to the COVID-19 Vaccine
In Public Health Sudbury & Districts v. Ontario Nurses’ Association, Arbitrator Robert Herman accepted that an employee may be entitled to an exemption from an employer’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy on the basis of creed where they held a sincere belief that the relationship between the COVID-19 vaccines and fetal cell lines was contrary to…
Ontario to Lift Most Masking Requirements and Certain Other COVID-19 Measures on June 11, 2022
On June 8, 2022, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kieran Moore, announced that most of the province’s remaining masking requirements will expire on June 11, 2022. Similarly, all remaining directives issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health (OCMOH) in response to COVID-19 will be revoked on June 11, 2022….