Articles

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice held that an employer’s failure to abide by the very termination provision it drafted amounted to a repudiation of the employment contract. Furthermore, following the reasoning set out in the Ontario Court of Appeal’s recent decision in Waksdale v Swegon North America, 2020 ONCA 391 (“Waksdale”), the Court determined that […]

In a recent decision from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, a plaintiff seeking damages for wrongful dismissal was instead found to have repudiated her employment contract. This case is a good news story for employers dealing with difficult employees. The Court’s decision highlights that employees who misguidedly attempt to withhold their services as a […]

In Ontario, managerial/supervisory employees, among others, are exempt from the overtime provisions of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”). However, an employee’s job title and/or the terms of their employment contract have little, if anything, to do with entitlement to overtime pay. Instead, overtime pay exemptions are tied to the duties actually performed by an employee. In […]

In Kovintharajah v. Paragon Linen and Laundry Services Inc., 2021 HRTO 98, Vice-Chair Best held that the employer violated the Human Rights Code (the “Code”) by revoking an existing family status accommodation that allowed an employee to leave work before the normal end of the shift in order to meet their child care responsibilities.

In a recent decision, the Superior Court of Justice for Ontario recognised a new tort: harassment in Internet communications. While the Court of Appeal for Ontario previously held in Merrifield v Canada (Attorney General) that an independent tort of harassment was not recognised in the province, in this most recent case the court identified that, absent such a cause of action, the civil remedies at its disposal were insufficient to address the defendant’s harassing and abusive behaviour.

In a recent decision, an Ontario Arbitrator upheld an employer’s mandatory COVID-19 testing policy. The union filed a group grievance on behalf of its members working in a retirement home. The grievance challenged the reasonableness of the employer’s unilateral decision to adopt an Ontario government recommendation for long-term care homes by converting the recommendation into a mandatory COVID-19 testing policy.

On January 1, 2021, enhanced obligations came into effect to assist in the prevention of harassment and violence in federally regulated workplaces. The enhanced obligations were established under the Canada Labour Code by Bill C-65, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (harassment and violence), the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act and the Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 1, as well as the Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations (the “Regulations”).

In a recent decision, the Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld the lower court’s decision awarding a former employee over $1.274 million as a result of the employer unilaterally imposing a number of changes to the terms of employment. The employment relationship was governed by a 10-year fixed term contract with no termination provision. This is one of the highest damage awards ever issued in a Canadian wrongful dismissal case. It serves as a stark reminder to employers that using fixed-term contracts can be extremely costly if they are not carefully and properly drafted.

With COVID-19 cases rising across the province, the Ontario Government declared a second state of emergency under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act. The state of emergency is expected to last until at least 11 February 2021. In conjunction with this declaration, the Government has also announced additional restrictions, including a Stay-At-Home Order (the “SAH Order”), and new amendments to the Rules for Areas in Stage 1 regulation (the “Stage 1 Order”).  

On 19 November 2020, Bill C-9, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy and Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy) received Royal Assent. Bill C-9 revises the eligibility criteria and the level of subsidisation that employers can access under the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), and extends the overall program to 30 June 2021.