Labour and Employment Law Blog

On June 7, 2017, Bill 17, the Fair and Family-Friendly Workplaces Act, received Royal Assent. The Act makes significant amendments to the Alberta Employment Standards Code (the “ESC”) and Labour Relations Code (the “LRC”).  The changes will affect all provincially-regulated employers in the Province of Alberta, both unionized and non-unionized. A summary of ...

The Ontario Superior Court recently confirmed in Papp v. Stokes et al., 2017 ONSC 2357 that an employer will not be held liable for defamation when it provides a truthful reference about a former employee. It is, however, important to note that:

• an employer should be careful to ensure that the information provided is accurate and must not act with malice in providing a ...

In a recent decision, Styles v. Alberta Investment Management Corporation, 2017 ABCA 1, the Alberta Court of Appeal reversed a 2015 judgement of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench that had recognized a common law duty requiring employers to reasonably exercise their discretionary contractual powers in relation to their employees. The Court of Appeal found that such a ...

In a recent decision, Wood v. Fred Deeley Imports Ltd., 2017 ONCA 158, the Ontario Court of Appeal reversed a 2016 judgment of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice that had found a termination clause in an employee’s employment agreement enforceable. The consequence for the employer was that, instead of 13 weeks’ working notice and a lump sum equivalent to eight ...

WorkSafeBC has approved the addition of the following three new sections to the
Occupational Health and Safety Regulation (OHSR) relating to Joint Committees and
Worker Representatives:

1. Section 3.26 - Evaluation of Joint Committees - Employers must undertake an
   annual evaluation of each of their Joint Committee(s) to examine its effectiveness and
   identify possible ...

The BC Government has passed a bill (Bill 27 – 2016: Human Rights Code Amendment Act, 2016) to add "gender identity and expression" as a prohibited ground of discrimination under the Human Rights Code. The amendment adds a prohibition against discrimination on the basis of "gender identity and expression" in addition to the existing grounds of “sex” and “sexual ...

The Canada Labour Code (the “Code”), which applies to federally regulated employers, provides that non-union employees in non-management positions with 12 months or more service can bring complaints alleging that the termination of their employment was “unjust.” An adjudicator deciding an unjust dismissal complaint under the Code can award a wide range of ...

There were two interesting developments in Ontario this month in employment and human rights law.

1. Changes to the Occupational Health and Safety Act

Bill 132 received Royal Assent. Important to our employer clients in Ontario are the amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA). Bill 132 now expands the definition of “workplace harassment” in the OHSA ...

On March 15, 2016, Manitoba gave royal assent to legislation that will provide employees who are victims of domestic violence with both paid and unpaid leave from work. Titled The Employment Standards Code Amendment Act (Leave for Victims of Domestic Violence, Leave for Serious Injury or Illness and Extension of Compassionate Care Leave) (the “Act”), the law is the ...

The new Liberal government’s tax policy focuses on relieving the tax burden on the middle- class and increasing taxation generally for those earning more than $200,000. As part of that plan, the Liberal government plans to eliminate the tax deduction on employee stock option benefits over $100,000 and increase federal marginal tax rates on individuals with an annual ...