Labour and Employment Law Blog

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 ...

On December 8, 2016, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for
British Columbia (the “OIPC”) issued its first ever Audit and Compliance Report
following an audit of a private sector business. In Audit and Compliance Report P16-
01‒ Over-collected and Overexposed: Surveillance and Privacy Compliance in a
Medical Clinic (the “Report”), the ...

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 ...

Long anticipated amendments to the federal private sector privacy legislation, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”), were made with the passing into law of the Digital Privacy Act in late June. 

In the employment context, PIPEDA applies to federally regulated employers (including banks, telecommunication ...

On June 19, 2015, the Federal Government enacted the Policy Committees, Work Place Committees and Health and Safety Representatives Regulations. These Regulations impose new obligations on federally regulated businesses in respect of their health and safety committees or representative. The Regulations ensure that federally regulated workplaces are required to ...