All Ontario employers have certain obligations with respect to drafting and implementing a policy and accompanying program on violence and harassment in the workplace, as set out in the Occupational Health and Safety Act.  An employer’s legal obligations were further expanded when the OHSA was amended in the Fall of 2016 via Bill 132; this...Continue Reading

Deborah Hudson was recently published in the Queen’s University IRC Research Briefs writing about Ageism in the Law (April 2017).Continue Reading

In June 2016, Krista Siedlak conducted a webinar on conducting harassment investigations at Canadian HR Reporter. This was particularly well attended as employers are trying to get ready for the upcoming changes to the Occupational Health and Safety Act in September of 2016 regarding sexual harassment and investigations.Continue Reading

Deborah Hudson spoke on a panel for the Ontario Bar Association about mental stress claims in the context of  Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board claims.  The panel focused on the issue of causation within a workers’ compensation framework.Continue Reading

Krista Siedlak has been participating in this Certificate program since 2011 on a semi-annual basis.  In March of 2016, she ran two separate sessions dealing with Investigations: “Conducting the Interview” and “After a Finding”. The first session deals with the nuts and bolts of conducting effective interviews during investigations. The second session tries to provide...Continue Reading

A recent arbitration decision has shed some light on the concept of personal harassment and its role in the creation of a poisoned work environment. In Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and OPSEU, Re, the Grievor, a Social Worker, had been terminated for cause by the Hospital for engaging in harassing conduct of her coworkers....Continue Reading

Catherine Milne was recently interviewed by the Canadian Press regarding lessons that HR departments can take away from the CBC-Ghomesi report. To read the full article, click here.Continue Reading

Should Canadian Hockey League players be considered employees? Or are they independent contractors? Or simply amateur athletes? These are the questions that a class-action lawsuit filed recently on behalf of a group of players against the CHL seeks to answer. The lawsuit seeks $180 million in outstanding wages, vacation, holiday and overtime pay, and includes...Continue Reading

The Ontario Court of Appeal has sent a clear message to employers about their safety obligations, calling a $200,000 fine ‘manifestly unfit’ and increasing the fine to $750,000. The case involved the 2009 death of a supervisor and 3 employees when the swing stage on which they were working, collapsed. Autopsies determined that the employees...Continue Reading

With summer (supposedly) around the corner, there is no time like the present for a refresher on the law surrounding internships, paid and unpaid.  Large and small companies turn to internships, often filled by students, to both meet human resource needs and provide work experience and opportunities for those filling the roles.  What are the...Continue Reading

A recent decision of the Divisional Court – Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada v. Communications, Energy and Paperworkers’ Union of Canada, Local 3011, 2013 ONSC 2725 (CanLII) – has added to the jurisprudence applying the Bill 168 amendments to Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act. The case takes a strong stand against...Continue Reading

The Ontario Superior Court recently released a case that could have a significant impact on employers and employees alike when it comes to temporary layoffs.  Trites v. Renin, 2013 ONSC 2715, was released in early May, 2013, and articulates a somewhat new take on an employer’s rights to impose a temporary layoff without an express...Continue Reading

On April 1, 2013, the federal government announced that the new Social Security Tribunal (SST) is now operational. The SST is an independent administrative tribunal that will provide independent appeal processes for Employment Insurance (EI), Canada Pension Plan (CPP), and Old Age Security (OAS) decisions. Going forward, all EI, CPP and OAS appeals must be submitted to...Continue Reading

In Branco v American Home Assurance Company, 2013 SKQB 98 (CanLII) a Saskatchewan court awarded $4.95 million (including $4.5 million in punitive damages) to an injured worker. Justice Acton found that the record-breaking punitive damages award was justified due to the “reprehensible” and “abhorrent” conduct of the insurers (AIG and Zurich). Background The plaintiff, Branco,...Continue Reading

The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has ordered an employer to reinstate a 16-year employee who was terminated over 9 years ago from her role as Supervisor. In it’s decision on liability, the HRTO found that the employer had discriminated against the employee because of disability by failing to accomodate her disability related needs when...Continue Reading

On March 5th, 2013, the Ontario government announced that it will be seeking to pass legislation that would create three new job-protected leaves. If passed, the proposed Employment Standards Amendment Act (Leaves to Help Families), 2013 will create: • Family Caregiver Leave: up to 8 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for employees to provide care...Continue Reading

A recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, demonstrates how the interpretation of a single word in an employment agreement can impact the applicability of the agreement and the liability of the employer involved. It is therefore important for employers to ensure that their employment agreements are properly drafted and correctly reflect the...Continue Reading

Blue Mountain Resorts Limited v. Ontario (Labour), 2013 ONCA 75 (CanLII), released February 7, 2013, has clarified the critical injury/death reporting requirements under section 51(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA). Pursuant to section 51(1) “where a person is killed or critically injured from any cause at a workplace”, an employer must notify...Continue Reading

The Federal Court of Appeal recently confirmed a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal decision of 2010 regarding an employer’s obligation to accommodate based on family status in Attorney General of Canada v. Fiona Ann Johnstone and Canadian Human Rights Commission, 2013 FC 113. Fiona Johnstone, a Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) Officer and mother of two,...Continue Reading

Plester v. PolyOne Canada Inc., 2013 ONCA 47 (CanLII), released January 28, 2013, demonstrates that even in circumstances of serious misconduct, summary dismissal of an employee may not be warranted. The Court of Appeal decision affirms, in part, Justice Wein’s decision in Plester v. Polyone Canada Inc., 2011 ONSC 6068 (CanLII). By way of background,...Continue Reading

An Alberta Court of Appeal decision has confirmed the obligations of fiduciary employees who leave their former employer and solicit their clients – even indirectly – away. Richard Evans, a sport agent who worked for 6 years with The Sports Corporation (“TSC”) signed a non-solicitation agreement which was ultimately determined to be unenforceable by the...Continue Reading

In most settlements arising out of a claim for wrongful dismissal or an application at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (“HRTO”), there will typically be an expectation that both sides will keep a settlement confidential. This expectation should be clearly outlined in language that is included in settlement documentation (i.e. Minutes of Settlement). There...Continue Reading

In 2008, the government introduced sweeping changes to the manner in which human rights issues are handled in Ontario. Four years later, it called for an independent review of the system to gauge how effective those changes have been. Andrew Pinto’s much anticipated report on the Ontario human rights system was released today – November...Continue Reading

On October 10th, 2012 a Windsor jury awarded a former assistant manager of Walmart $1.46 million in damages, an amount exceeding her claim in the constructive dismissal action. The Plaintiff argued that she had been subject to abuse, sexual harassment, discrimination and intentional infliction of mental suffering on the part of her supervisor, a manager...Continue Reading

The Supreme Court of Canada, in R. v. Cole, 2012 SCC 53 (CanLII) recently confirmed that Canadians may reasonably expect privacy in the information contained on their workplace computers. The case involved a teacher whose board-issued laptop was found by a technician to contain child pornography. The laptop was seized and handed over to police,...Continue Reading

In a recent wrongful dismissal case, the British Columbia Supreme Court provided some useful guidelines around how (and how not) to conduct effective workplace investigations.  The Plaintiff, Stephanie Vernon, was an employee of the BC Liquor Distribution Branch for over 30 years.  She was the subject of a complaint in which it was alleged that her conduct...Continue Reading

The Ontario Court of Appeal ruling in R v. Cole (a criminal case involving allegations of possession of child pornography found on a teacher’s board-issued laptop) has significant implications in the employment law realm. The issue before the Court was whether or not the search and seizure of the entire hard disk on the employee’s laptop...Continue Reading