The B.C. Supreme Court recently awarded a terminated employee, with less than three months of service, more than $140,000 in wrongful dismissal and aggravated damages. The employer in this case made a number of errors, including having two separate employment agreements (one before commencement of employment and one after), inducing an employee to leave secure...
Employers in Ontario, Manitoba, Newfoundland & Labrador and Saskatchewan, will be required to comply with the new increased minimum wage effective October 1, 2021. Effective October 1, 2021, the general minimum wage in Ontario increased to $14.35 per hour. Under the Making Ontario Open for Business Act this increase is tied to the Ontario Consumer...
New legislation has been passed, resulting in several changes to the Canada Labour Code that directly affect federally regulated employers. For the purpose of clarity, the below changes do not impact provincially regulated employers. New Minimum Wage: Effective December 29, 2021, the new federal minimum wage is $15.00 per hour. If an employee works in a jurisdiction with...
Back in June the Ontario government extended the deemed Infectious Disease Emergency Leave (“IDEL”) to September 25th, 2021 – it has now been extended once again and will end on January 1st, 2022 (if not extended again). As a reminder, deemed IDEL applies to the following: A non-unionized employee whose employer has temporarily reduced or...
Many employers continue to experience confusion respecting the new upcoming Federal statutory holiday – the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The new holiday, which will be recognized on September 30th starting this year, was introduced by the Federal government in June, and originally only applied to federally regulated employers who are governed by the...
With a Federal Election just around the corner, now is a good time to start thinking about your obligations as an employer to provide your employees with time off work to vote. In accordance with the Canada Elections Act, Canadian citizens who are 18 years of age or older and registered to vote are entitled...
A recent arbitration decision – ICBC v. MoveUP (Canadian Office and Professional Employees’ Union Local 378) (Mundy Grievance) – highlights how sick leave abuse by employees could be cause for termination, even when employees work from home. By way of background, a unionized employee, who was working from home, requested the Saturday of the August long weekend...
In a surprising decision from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the court recently reduced an employee’s common law reasonable notice period by two (2) months due to her failure to properly mitigate her damages. By way of reminder, upon termination, employees have a responsibility to look for alternative employment – often referred to as...
The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has ordered a company to pay significant damages after terminating an employee who made a sexual harassment complaint. The employee, a sales associate for a medical equipment supplier, began receiving comments from the Company’s founder regarding her appearance. Despite asking the founder to stop, he persisted and eventually the employee...
Bill C-5, An Act to amend the Bills of Exchange Act, the Interpretation Act and the Canada Labour Code (National Day for Truth and Reconciliation) received royal assent on June 3, 2021 introducing a new federal statutory holiday, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The Bill, which was first introduced September 29, 2020, intended...