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...
A recent Court of Appeal decision from Saskatchewan reminds all employers of the costs associated with misclassifying an employee as a manager in order to avoid paying overtime pay. In Balzer v. Federated Co-Operatives, an employee made a claim for overtime pay (in addition to wrongful dismissal damages). The trial judge awarded $19,398.30 in unpaid...
Employers are frequently faced with requests from employees for access to their personnel file. Employers question whether they are legally obligated to comply with such a request, or if they may refuse on the basis that the personnel file is the property of the organization. The answer to this common dilemma will more often than...
A very recent case from Ontario is an indication to employers that the 24 month “limit” on reasonable notice no longer exists. The Judge in Dawe v. Equitable Life Insurance Company awarded Mr. Dawe 30 months of reasonable notice and expressed that he would have awarded even more! Here’s why: Mr. Dawe was employed for...
A British Columbia Fire Chief suspected employees of going through a locked cabinet in his often unlocked office and decided to catch the responsible party in the act. To do so, he installed motion activated video surveillance equipment in his office. He would turn on the camera upon leaving for the day and reviewed the...
A recent Ontario Superior Court of Justice case, Peternel v. Custom Granite & Marble Ltd., 2018, provides useful guidance for employers seeking to understand the ever-evolving process of accommodating family status under human rights legislation. Background: The case involved an employee returning from maternity leave. Prior to her maternity leave, the employee’s live-in mother provided...