In Teamsters Local Union 987 of Alberta v Purolator Inc., 2024 CanLII 21937 (CA LA), an arbitrator dealt with a clash between the amount of leave days under a unionized employer’s collective agreements (CA) and the leave...more
4/16/2024
/ Arbitration ,
Canada ,
Collective Agreements ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employees ,
Employment Litigation ,
International Labor Laws ,
Labour Code ,
Leave of Absence ,
Teamsters ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
In 2023, Canada saw significant statutory and case law developments in labour and employment law. This Insight provides an overview of notable 2023 developments, with links to more detailed articles and commentary....more
In Giacomodonato v. PearTree Securities Inc., 2023 ONSC 5628, Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice ordered the employer to pay to the employee the costs of the proceeding in the amount of $830,761 to dissuade employers from...more
In Breen v Foremost Industries Ltd, 2023 ABKB 552, the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta dismissed the claim of a President and CEO that he had been wrongfully dismissed from his employment, finding that his employment had...more
10/24/2023
/ Breach of Duty ,
Canada ,
Duty of Care ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Employee Misconduct ,
Employees ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Hiring & Firing ,
International Labor Laws ,
Personal Liability ,
Punitive Damages ,
Wrongful Termination
In Dove v Destiny Media Technologies Inc., 2023 BCSC 1032 , the Supreme Court of British Columbia found that an employer had just cause for the dismissal of a full-time employee who worked on a side business during working...more
A recent Ontario Court of Appeal (OCA) decision demonstrates the process an employer may be expected to undertake to recover employee-stolen funds when the proceeds of the fraud are traced to the assets of a “stranger to the...more
In Forbes v. Glenmore Printing Ltd., 2023 BCSC 25, the Supreme Court of British Columbia (BC) disagreed with the employee’s argument that the termination clause in his employment agreement was invalid because it required the...more
An arbitrator recently issued the first award in Ontario to address and uphold the reasonableness of a hospital vaccination policy that provides for the termination of employment for non-compliance. In Lakeridge Health and...more
6/8/2023
/ Arbitration ,
Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Ontario ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety ,
Wrongful Termination
In Teljeur v Aurora Hotel Group, 2023 ONSC 1324, a wrongful dismissal case, the court awarded the plaintiff-employee seven months’ damages for reasonable notice, and $15,000 in moral damages due to the employer’s bad-faith...more
The decision of the British Columbia, Canada Civil Resolution Tribunal (Tribunal) in Besse v. Reach CPA Inc., 2023 BCCRT 27 is especially relevant now that remote work has become common. The Tribunal found the employer had...more
5/31/2023
/ Canada ,
Electronic Monitoring ,
Employee Monitoring ,
Employee Tracking ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
International Labor Laws ,
Remote Working ,
Timekeeping ,
Wage and Hour
In Soave v. Stahle Construction Inc., 2023 ONCA 265, the Ontario Court of Appeal (OCA) allowed an employer’s appeal of the trial judge’s finding that an employee who was on a temporary leave at the time of an injury was...more
5/16/2023
/ Canada ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employees ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employment Litigation ,
Health Insurance ,
International Labor Laws ,
Leave of Absence ,
Long Term Disability Insurance ,
Ontario ,
Wage and Hour
In Safavi-Naini v. Rubin Thomlinson LLP, 2023 ONCA 86, the Court of Appeal for Ontario (OCA) upheld the dismissal of a defamation action under s. 137.1 of Ontario’s Courts of Justice Act (CJA). The decision provides guidance...more
4/10/2023
/ Anti-SLAPP ,
Canada ,
Defamation ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
International Labor Laws ,
Ontario ,
Press Releases ,
Public Interest ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Workplace Investigations
In Croke v. VuPoint Systems Ltd., 2023 ONSC 1234, Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice decided that an employee’s refusal to comply with mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirements resulted in the frustration of the parties’...more
3/14/2023
/ Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Frustration of a Common Purpose ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Ontario ,
Vaccinations
Although arbitrators in Canada have considered whether an employer in a unionized workplace can place an employee on unpaid leave for failing to comply with its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, the British Columbia...more
10/7/2022
/ Arbitration ,
Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
Two years ago in Waksdale v. Swegon North America Inc., 2020 ONCA 391, the Ontario Court of Appeal established the proper method for determining whether a termination clause in an employment agreement is enforceable. ...more
8/25/2022
/ Canada ,
Contract Terms ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Standards Act ,
Hiring & Firing ,
International Labor Laws ,
Ontario ,
Termination Clauses ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms
The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal’s decision in LaFleche v. NLFD Auto, 2022 BCHRT 88, provides employers with insight into how they should conduct themselves while their employees are on a leave of absence. The...more
8/22/2022
/ Canada ,
Demotions ,
Employees ,
Employment Litigation ,
Family Status Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Rights Code ,
International Labor Laws ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Leave of Absence ,
Maternity Leave ,
Sex Discrimination
In Benke v Loblaw Companies Limited, 2022 ABQB 461, the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta (ABQB) dismissed an employee’s claim that he had been constructively dismissed when his employer did not accommodate him with a mask...more
In M & P Drug Mart Inc. v. Norton, 2022 ONCA 398, the Court of Appeal for Ontario (OCA) dismissed an employer’s appeal of an application judge’s decision that a non-competition clause in an employment agreement governed by...more
5/31/2022
/ Ambiguous ,
Appeals ,
Canada ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
International Labor Laws ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Ontario ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms
In Zupcic v Saputo Foods Limited, 2022 AHRC 13 (Saputo), the Human Rights Tribunal of Alberta (Tribunal) dismissed an employee’s complaint that that she was discriminated against in employment on the ground of her physical...more
Since late fall 2021, we have seen a steady flow of arbitration awards emerge in Ontario and British Columbia that consider issues relating to mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies in the unionized workplace. In this...more
4/27/2022
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
On April 4, 2022, in Fraser Health Authority v British Columbia General Employees’ Union, 2022 CanLII 25560, Arbitrator Koml Kandola of the British Columbia Labour Relations Board dismissed the union’s grievance respecting...more
4/13/2022
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Arbitration ,
Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Litigation ,
Grievance Process ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
In a successful wrongful dismissal claim for $18,647, the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Austin v Kitsumkalum First Nation, 2020 BCSC 2298, awarded the employee an additional $15,000 for aggravated damages because the...more
In Unifor Local 973 v Coca-Cola Canada Bottling Limited, 2022 CanLII 20322, Arbitrator Mark Wright made another contribution to the “weight of authority” in Ontario labour arbitration awards pertaining to mandatory COVID-19...more
3/25/2022
/ Arbitration ,
Canada ,
Collective Agreements ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
In Reotech Construction Ltd. v Snider, 2022 BCSC 317 (Reotech), the Supreme Court of British Columbia found that the trial court erred when it did not deduct the employee’s $9,000 Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB)...more
In Shalagin v. Mercer Celgar Limited Partnership, 2022 BCSC 112 (Mercer), the Supreme Court of British Columbia dismissed an employee’s wrongful dismissal claim and held that his surreptitious recording of conversations with...more