Labour and Employment Law Blog

Mask wearing indoors has become a ubiquitous part of the COVID-19 experience. The B.C. government mandated mask wearing in November of 2020 for most indoor public settings. Those orders are premised on face coverings helping to prevent, respond to or alleviate the spread of COVID‐19, when used with other protective measures. Some members of our society have physical ...

Now that we have persevered through one year of the COVID-19 pandemic, much has been written about pandemic fatigue and associated social isolation, mental stress, and anxiety. Employers may be seeing an increase in the incidence of mental illness claims in their workplaces. Statistics Canada conducted an online questionnaire in April-May 2020, Canadians' mental ...

The new Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations, SOR/2020-130 (the “Regulation”) and corresponding changes to the Canada Labour Code (the “Code”) come into force on January 1, 2021. The amendments introduce significant changes to how federally regulated organizations are required to prevent and address workplace harassment and violence ...

In a recent decision, Waksdale v. Swegon North America, 2020 ONCA 391, the Ontario Court of Appeal (“ONCA”) held that a “without cause” termination provision in an employment agreement was unenforceable because a separate “with cause” termination provision did not comply with the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the “ON ESA”).

Mr. Waksdale had ...

In our earlier two blog posts, Returning the Workplace to Safe Operation: Part 1, Part 2, we addressed the occupational health and safety issues surrounding returning the workplace to safe operation. This blog post addresses the employment issues related to managing the return of employees to the workplace from temporary layoff or working from home. Beyond advising ...

This is the second in a two part series on ‘Returning the Workplace to Safe Operation’. This part deals with the renewed significance of existing OH&S requirements in the context of COVID-19. Before considering these OH&S requirements, we will first provide an update on Part 1 of this two part series issued on May 14, 2020.

Part 1: Updates on the requirement for a Safe ...

This is the first in a two part series on 'Returning the Workplace to Safe Operation. Part two will be posted on Tuesday, May 19. 

Part 1: New occupational health and safety requirements to ensure your workplace is safe from the spread or introduction of COVID-19

Canadian provinces and territories are now beginning the gradual process of reopening the economy in the wake of ...

The B.C. Employment Standards Branch (“ESB”) has recently published guidance on how business closures and staffing reductions related to the COVID-19 pandemic may exempt British Columbia employers from the obligation to provide employees with statutory termination notice or pay in lieu of notice.

The B.C. Employment Standards Act (“ESA”) sets out the minimum ...

COVID-19 has now been characterized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Although the number of reported cases in Canada is currently low in comparison to some other countries, public health authorities have cautioned that this situation may change rapidly. As part of this quickly changing situation, employers need to be prepared to address related workplace ...

In the recent case of Quach v. Mitrux Services Ltd., 2020 BCCA 25 (CanLII), the British Colombia Court of Appeal clarified how mitigation applies to fixed-term contracts, commented on when aggravated damages may be awarded in wrongful dismissal cases, and mused about the necessity of fresh consideration to ensure the enforceability of new contractual terms.

In this case ...