In Bassanese v German Canadian News Company Limited et al, an employer learned the hard way that ignoring a complaint of workplace harassment can result in serious financial consequences. The employee in this case was a 74-year-old clerk with 19 years of service. She was repeatedly verbally harassed by a male co-worker, including him screaming...
In 2017, Adam Knauff, an Ontario firefighter, was working for his employer – Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry in British Columbia – fighting forest fires. Mr. Knauff is a self-described “ethical vegan” and has filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario claiming that his employer did not provide him with...
Federal employers finally have an in-force date for previously proposed legislation as the federal government recently confirmed the changes to the Canada Labour Code will come into force on September 1, 2019. You may recall, these changes were proposed as part of the Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 2 (Bill C-63) and the Budget Implementation...
The Alberta government has proposed Bill 2: An Act to Make Alberta Open for Business (“Bill 2”). If passed, Bill 2 will repeal or revise some of the workplace amendments implemented by the former NDP government in 2017 under Bill 17: Fair and Family Friendly Workplaces Act (“Bill 17”). Bill 2 intends to introduce the...
As most employers who operate in Ontario are aware, in accordance with the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000, as amended (the “ESA”), an employer who terminates an employee without cause must provide an employee with statutory severance pay if: 1. The employee has five years of service or more; and 2. The employer has a...
Surprise, surprise…another Bill but this time in British Columbia. On April 29, 2019, the BC Government tabled Bill 8: Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2019. If passed into law, Bill 8 will be the first major revision of the Employment Standards Act (“ESA”) in about 15 years. Some of the highlights of the amendments to take...
The Government of Canada recently launched a new Employment Insurance Parental Sharing Benefit on March 17, 2019. Parents, including same-sex parents, are now entitled to additional Employment Insurance benefits after the birth or adoption of a child, subject to both parents sharing the parental leave. In particular, provided both parents take parental leave and select...
The Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (the “Board”) has awarded over $60,000 to a CRA employee in Ontario who was sexually harassed by her boss at work. The Board ordered payment of $20,000 for pain and suffering, $20,000 for the “reckless” internal handling of the investigation after the complaint was made, and...
Have you lost count of how many Bills have been introduced lately? Luckily, we haven’t! On April 3rd, 2019, Bill 66, Restoring Ontario’s Competitive Act became law, meaning even more changes for Ontario employers (and one less Bill)! Some key changes to take note of are: ESA Posters: That little poster you have hanging in...
The Supreme Court of Canada recently denied hearing an appeal of the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision in Kanak v. Riggin, (“Kanak”), which confirmed that an employer can provide a negative employment reference in particular circumstances. In Kanak, an employee sued her former manager for defamation for what she felt was a particularly unfair employment reference that...