In Heller v Uber Technologies Inc, 2019 ONCA 1, the Ontario Court of Appeal found that a mandatory arbitration clause—requiring Uber drivers to arbitrate disputes in the Netherlands—was invalid and unenforceable. This decision provides lessons to employers from other jurisdictions that operate in Ontario
Feb
26
2019
Canada: Rules for Statutory Severance Pay are Clarified by the Ontario Labour Relations Board
In Hawkes v Max Aicher (North America) Limited, 2018 CanLII 125999, the Ontario Labour Relations Board recently clarified that only an employer’s Ontario payroll is considered when calculating severance pay under the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000. Employers with international operations may be exempt from the requirement to provide statutory severance pay if their Ontario payrolls are less than $2.5 million
Feb
26
2019
Canada: New “Employer Health Tax” Now in Effect in British Columbia
Pursuant to the new Employer Health Tax Act, certain employers in British Columbia are now required to pay to the government for each calendar year a tax equal to 1.95% of the BC remuneration paid by the employer during the calendar year
Feb
26
2019
Belgium: Disagreements arise over the national wage bargaining system
Belgium was hit by a national strike on 13 February 2019. The collective actions were caused by the discontent of the trade unions with the national wage bargaining system, which they argue to limit their freedom to negotiate higher wage increases
Feb
26
2019
Australia: Employees cannot be required to work “split-shifts” under Airline Award: Federal Court of Australia
The Federal Court of Australia has ruled that an employer cannot require an employee to work a “split-shift” under the Airline Operations – Ground Staff Award 2010. In doing so, the Federal Court has also held that rostering an employee on for more than one period of paid work within a 24-hour period impermissibly constituted a split-shift under the Award
Jan
29
2019
USA: Supreme Court: Interstate Transport Companies’ Independent Contractor-Drivers are Exempt from FAA
In New Prime, Inc. v. Oliveira, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Federal Arbitration Act’s (FAA) Section 1 exemption applies to transportation workers, regardless of whether they are classified as independent contractors or employees. No. 17-340 (Jan. 15, 2019)
Jan
29
2019
UK: CEO Pay Ratio Reporting
For financial years starting in 2019, all UK listed companies with more than 250 UK employees will have to publish and explain every year the differences in pay between their chief executive and staff
Jan
29
2019
UK: The “Good Work Plan”
The government has announced that it will make a range of policy changes and introduce new laws to provide new protections for employees and workers
Jan
29
2019
UK: Discrimination arising from disability: advantageous treatment is not unfavourable, even though it could have been more advantageous
The Supreme Court found that an enhanced pension that was based on the employee’s part-time working, that had been agreed as reasonable adjustments, did not amount to unfavourable treatment
Jan
29
2019
UK: Termination: employee’s dismissal while entitled to long-term disability benefits was in breach of an implied term
The EAT ruled that a term must be implied into the employment contract, that the employer could not terminate employment on the grounds of incapacity to work while the employee was entitled to disability benefits