Labour and Employment Law Blog

On April 6, 2022, Bill 10 – 2022 Labour Relations Code Amendment Act, 2022 (“Bill 10”) received its first reading. If passed, Bill 10 will introduce two significant amendments to the BC Labour Relations Code (the “Code”):

1. Return to a “card based” certification process – i.e. union certification without a vote.
2. Yearly opportunity for rival unions to ...

Employers of unionized workforces often face different challenges and legal issues than employers of non-union workforces. The biggest difference is that in a unionized workforce the terms and conditions of employment are governed by a collective agreement negotiated by the union, as opposed to individual employment agreements negotiated between the employer and ...

As we have previously blogged about here, the British Columbia Labour Relations Code (the “Code”) which governs labour relations in unionized workplaces, was recently amended effective May 30, 2019. The amendments included placing narrower restrictions on employer speech in respect of labour relations issues.

Between 2002 and the recent amendment, section 8 of ...

Effective May 30, 2019, the Employment Standards Act and the Labour Relations Code have been amended. You can read about the amendments in our previous blog posts – click here to read about changes to the Employment Standards Act, and here to read about changes to the Labour Relations Code.

Please also note that the minimum wage in British Columbia increased on June 1, 2019 to ...

On April 30, 2019, the British Columbia government introduced Bill 30, Labour Relations Code Amendment Act, 2019 in the British Columbia Legislative Assembly.

Bill 30 follows the recommendations set out in Recommendations for Amendments to the Labour Relations Code (the "Labour Relations Code Report"), a government-commissioned report from an independent panel ...

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 ...

Many savvy employers incorporate probation clauses into employment agreements with new employees. Courts have recognized the legitimacy of such clauses, which have the effect of putting the employee on notice that the employee's performance is being evaluated and that the employee must satisfactorily pass the probationary period if the employee is to continue ...

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 ...

Less than two weeks after handing down one landmark case on the freedom of association, the Court released another such case last Friday, Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v. Saskatchewan, 2015 SCC 4. The significance of this decision is that the Court has ruled that the right to strike is a guaranteed right of freedom of association protected by Section 2(d) of the Canadian ...