Labour and Employment Law Blog

As discussed in prior blog posts, the Employment Standards Regulation was previously amended to extend the temporary layoff period due to COVID-19 to a maximum of 24 weeks in a period of 28 consecutive weeks provided the layoff started before June 1, 2020 and ended by August 30, 2020. Employers wishing to extend the temporary layoff period beyond 24 weeks must apply for a ...

Human Rights Tribunal Dismisses Complaint that Work Shift Change was Family Status Discrimination

Many parents are familiar with the challenges of finding suitable childcare, and the further difficulty of balancing their childcare needs with their work schedules. The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) recently addressed this challenge in Ziegler v ...

You can find our previous blog post on the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy here and the first extension details here.

On July 27, 2020, Bill C-20, “An Act respecting further COVID-19 measures” (the “Bill”) received Royal Assent. The substantial changes introduced by the Bill include an extension of the CEWS and revisions to the calculation of the subsidy that ...

In the recent decision of Uber Technologies Inc. v. Heller, 2020 SCC 16 (“Heller”), the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) found that the arbitration clause in Uber’s standard form service agreement with its drivers was invalid.

This decision clears the way for the proposed class action lawsuit brought by David Heller on behalf of Ontario Uber drivers. If that class ...

On July 14, 2020, the British Columbia government introduced Bill 23 – 2020: Workers Compensation Amendment Act, 2020. Bill 23 responds to recent independent reviews of the workers compensation system in British Columbia and was developed following consultation with employers, labour stakeholders, and representatives of Indigenous organizations. If passed, Bill ...

As we have outlined in Part 1 and Part 2 of our blog series, ‘Returning the Workplace to Safe Operation’, employers have a duty to reduce the risk of COVID-19 in the workplace as much as reasonably practical. Consequently, employers may determine it is appropriate to conduct certain active screening, such as questionnaires, temperature screening, and testing ...

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 ...

The B.C. government has announced that the allowable length of a temporary layoff period under the Employment Standards Act will be further extended during the COVID-19 pandemic, from 16 weeks (within a 20 week consecutive period) to a maximum of 24 weeks. The text of the amended legislation has not yet been released. Read the government news release here.

Our previous blog ...

In A-Teck Appraisals Ltd. v Constandinou, 2020 BCSC 135 (“Constandinou”), the B.C. Supreme Court stayed a wrongful dismissal action on the basis that it was precluded by the arbitration clause in the former employee’s employment contract. The B.C. court took a different approach than the Ontario Court of Appeal in Heller v. Uber Technologies Inc. et al, 2019 ONCA 1 ...

It is astonishing that in the same week that we’ve read about astronauts going into space in a reusable rocket, we have also experienced the horrors of humanity reading about the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. It is a horrific paradox and many of us are asking – what can I do? And we in Lawson Lundell are also asking ourselves what can we do? How can ...