Labour and Employment Law Blog

In February 2018, the British Columbia Minister of Labour appointed an independent panel to review the Labour Relations Code (the "Code") and recommend changes. The panel's report was publicly released on October 25, 2018. The report, entitled Recommendations for Amendments to the Labour Relations Code, sets out 29 recommendations.

Notably, the report recommends:

• The ...

The big day has arrived. On October 17, 2018, the federal Cannabis Act came into force, legalizing cannabis and related products for recreational use. In our October 17th post we provided some top tips for employers in a previous post.  

Since the federal government announced legalization, the practical impact of legal cannabis on employers has been unclear, causing a good ...

This is probably not the first article you will read today on cannabis. Cannabis is now legal in Canada, but strictly regulated. Due to the intersection between human rights, privacy, and occupational health and safety laws, employers often have a challenging task in ensuring their employees are free from impairment.

Here are our top tips for employers:

1. Have an up-to-date ...

Last month, human rights issues hit the headlines as former employees of IBM Corp. have filed a class action lawsuit in the United States alleging age discrimination. The former employees claim that IBM has been laying off older employees over the course of a number of years in order to create a younger workforce.

Closer to home, last year the Public Service Labour Relations ...

Much attention has been given to workplace policies and procedures regarding the use of cannabis by employees following the legalisation of the recreational use of cannabis in Canada effective October 17, 2018. Employers should also consider the impact of the change in Canadian law for employees who travel outside of Canada. Legalisation of cannabis in Canada does not ...

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 ...

A Manitoban plaintiff has filed a class action lawsuit against the homegrown delivery service company, Skip the Dishes, reviving the debate over whether contractors for online services are truly independent contractors or are actually employees entitled to protection under employment standards legislation. Skip the Dishes operates an Uber-style online service that ...

In our June 28 blog post, we wrote about calculating holidays and holiday pay for employees working in British Columbia who are entitled to holiday pay. With Labour Day approaching, we thought we would revisit the topic.  

Did you know that there are many employees who do not have any entitlement to statutory holidays under the British Columbia Employment Standards Act

Canadian employers will soon encounter a new landscape when it comes to drug and alcohol testing in safety sensitive workplaces as cannabis use is set to be legalized in October 2018. Employers are faced with balancing employee privacy rights in terms of their off duty conduct, with safety concerns in the workplace. Of paramount concern for employers is whether an 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 ...