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...
The Superior Court of Quebec’s decision in Digital Shape Technologies Inc c. Walker, has held that a non-disparagement clause in a release is not a violation of the freedom of speech guarantees provided by the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. In this case, the former employee signed a release in exchange for a...
Federally regulated employers have more changes on the horizon with the recent passing of Bill C-65, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (harassment and violence), the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act and the Budget Implementation Act, 2017 – a bill that focuses primarily on expanding employer obligations when it comes to violence...
After a seven-year-long legal battle with its union, Suncor will finally commence random drug and alcohol testing in early 2019 at its oil sands worksites. On November 29, 2018, contractors were notified by Suncor that they will be required to conduct random drug tests on workers on designated work sites. The decision to move forward...
If your head has been spinning with all the legislative changes lately, now you have one less thing to worry about as the Ontario government has stalled the Pay Transparency Act, which had been set to take effect January 2019. The Act, which was passed in the spring, was aimed to help close the wage...
On October 29, 2018, Bill C-86, A second Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on February 27, 2018 and other measures (the” Bill”) was tabled. If passed, employers who are federally regulated for employment purposes (i.e. governed by the Canada Labour Code) will be facing major changes to employment standards...