Labour and Employment Law Blog

On April 29, 2019, Labour Minister Harry Bains introduced in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for first reading Bill 8, the Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2019. If passed into law, Bill 8 will be the first major revision of the Employment Standards Act (the "ESA") in about 15 years.

Bill 8 introduces a number of changes to the ESA. Notably, the proposed ...

The Ontario Court of Appeal in Ruston v. Keddco Mfg (2011) Ltd., 2019 ONCA 125, upheld the lower court’s decision awarding over $1.1 million in damages in a wrongful dismissal action.

Facts

Mr. Ruston, the President of Keddco, was terminated after 11 years of service. At the termination meeting, Mr. Ruston was advised that his employment was terminated for cause because he ...

The B.C. Court of Appeal released a decision last week on Lewis v. WestJet Airlines Ltd., a case we reported on our blog last May. The Court of Appeal upheld the B.C. Supreme Court’s decision that the proposed class action lawsuit should not be dismissed at an early stage, because it does disclose a reasonable cause of action and is not bound to fail.

This case is of key ...

Employers are increasingly concerned about preventing sexual harassment in the workplace – not only to ensure that all workers are given an equal opportunity to thrive in a safe and respectful workplace environment, but also because of concerns around vicarious liability, class actions, and PR scandals.

Based on our experience advising clients with respect to ...

This week, the British Columbia Business Council (the “BCBC”) released its latest Collective Bargaining Bulletin containing collective agreement wage settlement data up to the end of November 2018 (the “Bulletin”). The Bulletin provides useful information for employers preparing for collective bargaining in 2019. 

Key highlights from the Bulletin include:

Today the master and servant relationship between Ebenezer Scrooge and his clerk Bob Cratchit appears to our eyes an anachronism. For starters, Scrooge's penny-pinching ways would likely have him offside of employment standards provisions guaranteeing workers a minimum wage and paid statutory holidays.

In the modern world of employment, employers realize that ...

The holiday season is approaching, and many employees will be taking well-earned vacation. It is a good time for a refresher on statutory vacation requirements under the British Columbia Employment Standards Act (the "Act").

British Columbia employers must give employees who are subject to the Act both vacation time off of work and vacation pay.

Vacation Time

Employers ...

Last week we posted, “Changes to Labour Relations Code Proposed in New Report” where we outlined some notable recommendations in the panel’s report for amendments to the provincial labour relations code.

This post serves as a reminder to federally-regulated employers of upcoming amendments to the Canada Labour Code (“Code”). 

These amendments include:

For our clients in the federal sector, we often receive questions about the unjust dismissal provisions in the Canada Labour Code (the “Code”).

Under the Code, federally regulated employees in non-management positions with more than 12 months of service are protected from unjust dismissal. If such an employee is dismissed and the dismissal is unjust, the employee ...

For the first time in over two decades, an independent review of the Employment Standards Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 113 (the "Act"), is underway.  The review is being conducted by the British Columbia Law Institute's Employment Standards Act Reform Project (the "Project").  The Ministry of Labour is a participant observer in the Project.  Given the ministry's involvement, it is ...