The World Cup is fast approaching! Over the course of the tournament, we will be publishing our own matchups, comparing various aspects of labor and employment law in some of the participating countries. In Part I of this...more
In 2021, Canada saw significant statutory and case law developments in labour and employment law, some of which related to COVID-19. This Insight provides an overview of key 2021 developments, with links to more detailed...more
12/17/2021
/ Canada ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
International Labor Laws ,
Labor Reform ,
New Legislation ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Harassment Guidance ,
Workplace Violence ,
Wrongful Termination
Based on the provincewide vaccination rate and continuing improvements in key public health and health system indicators, Ontario has announced that it will enter Step One of the Roadmap to Reopen (Roadmap) on June 11 rather...more
With increasing concerns over COVID-19 variants and the recent acceleration of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout to Ontario’s public, Ontario Premier Doug Ford was recently asked if the Government of Ontario would consider...more
In 2020, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) heard arguments in Wastech Services Ltd. v. Greater Toronto Sewage and Drainage District, 2021 SCC 7 (Wastech) and C.M. Callow Inc. v. Zollinger, 2020 SCC 45 (Callow), both of which...more
As we entered a new decade in 2020, Canada saw significant developments in labour and employment law, some of which related to COVID-19. This Insight provides an overview of 14 key 2020 developments, with links to more...more
1/8/2021
/ Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employment Standards Act ,
False Light ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Invasion of Privacy ,
Layoffs ,
Leave of Absence ,
Relief Measures ,
Tort ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Subsidies Schemes ,
Wrongful Death
In NK v. Botuik, 2020 HRTO 345, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) made a $170,000 damage award to a vulnerable employee who, after being sexually harassed by her direct supervisor, engaged in unwelcome sexual...more
10/27/2020
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Canada ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Damages ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Ontario ,
Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Workplace Romances
In Association of Ontario Midwives v Ontario (Health and Long-Term Care), 2020 HRTO 165, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal (HRTO) found that the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOH) underpaid midwives due to gender...more
10/5/2020
/ Canada ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Equity ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Healthcare Workers ,
International Labor Laws ,
Ontario ,
Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Wage and Hour
In a recent Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) decision, an employee alleged her supervisor sexually assaulted her. The HRTO’s analysis of the poorly handled workplace investigation that ensued provides meaningful...more
On July 24, 2020, Ontario’s new Bill 195, Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020, became law. In accordance with Bill 195, Ontario’s Emergency Declaration has ended (subject to the provincial...more
8/18/2020
/ Canada ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Emergency Orders ,
Employment Standards Act ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Labor Laws ,
Layoffs ,
Leave of Absence ,
Ontario ,
Subsidies ,
Wage and Hour
In an anonymized decision, The Employee v. The University and another (No. 2), 2020 BCHRT 12, the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal (BCHRT) decided that a comment a faculty member made to a university employee during a...more
On May 4, 2017, the federal government enacted the Genetic Non-Discrimination Act (GNDA). On July 10, 2020, in Reference re Genetic Non-Discrimination Act (Reference),2 the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) rendered a split...more
On May 29, 2020, the government of Ontario filed Ontario Regulation 228/20 (Regulation) under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). The Regulation amends layoff and constructive dismissal rules exclusively under the ESA,...more
The workers’ compensation system in Canada is a no-fault insurance system that provides employees who become injured or ill at the workplace with compensation from a statutorily established accident fund. ...more
On March 30, 2020, the federal government revealed additional details about the 75% wage subsidy it will provide to employers, first announced on March 27, 2020. ...more
Given the rapid spread and implications of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), employers are confronting difficult questions regarding how to handle safety and health rules, travel restrictions, privacy of employees’ health...more
3/17/2020
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Business Continuity Plans ,
Canada ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Health and Safety ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Public Health ,
Risk Management ,
Sick Leave ,
Travel Restrictions ,
Traveling Employee ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
Canada saw significant developments in labour and employment law in 2019. As we embark on a new decade, we will undoubtedly see the landscape in this ever-changing area of law continue to evolve....more
1/9/2020
/ Amended Legislation ,
Appeals ,
Canada ,
Employee Misconduct ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
International Labor Laws ,
Labor Regulations ,
Labor Relations ,
Labour Code ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Substance Abuse ,
Tort ,
Undue Hardship
Two years after the #MeToo Movement made the prevalence of sexual harassment and sexual assault in the workplace known worldwide, the Alberta Court of Appeal in Calgary (City) v. Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 37,...more
11/11/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Arbitration ,
Canada ,
Disciplinary Proceedings ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Employee Misconduct ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hostile Environment ,
Judicial Review ,
Labor Regulations ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Termination
Employers in Ontario will likely welcome the decision in Katz et al. v. Clarke, 2019 ONSC 2188 (Divisional Court), which addressed the scope of the duty to accommodate in the event of an employee’s permanent disability. ...more
8/29/2019
/ Canada ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Damages ,
Duty to Accommodate ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Essential Functions ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Rights Code ,
Labor Regulations ,
Lost Wages ,
Ontario ,
Permanent Disability ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Wrongful Termination
Earlier this year, a labour arbitrator rendered a decision in Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Sunnyside Home) v Ontario Nurse’s Association, 2019 CanLII 43 (ON LA), that sends a clear warning to employers in Ontario about...more
6/6/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Breach of Trust ,
Canada ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gross Misconduct ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Rights Code ,
International Labor Laws ,
Ontario ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Reinstatement ,
Substance Abuse
Canadian law clearly requires employers to accommodate employees with disabilities unless it causes an undue hardship. But how are employers to deal with employees on medical leave who do not communicate with the employer? At...more
The British Columbia Court of Appeal recently affirmed that it continues to be bound by the existing legal test for adverse discrimination on the ground of “family status” established in Health Sciences Assoc. of B.C. v....more
Ontario’s highest court has confirmed that employment contract provisions that will breach the Employment Standards Act (‘ESA’) in the future are void and unenforceable. The Court has also confirmed that fixed-term employees...more
Non-Canadian workers are increasingly suing their employers in Canadian courts for human rights violations allegedly committed outside Canada by the companies themselves or by other entities in their supply chains. This...more
9/16/2015
/ ACTA ,
Alien Tort Statute ,
Amnesty International ,
British Columbia Supreme Court ,
Canada ,
Code of Conduct ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Due Diligence ,
Foreign Corporations ,
Foreign Workers ,
Human Rights ,
International Finance ,
Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. ,
Negligence ,
OECD ,
Royal Dutch Petroleum ,
Standard of Care ,
Supply Chain ,
UN Guiding Principles