Employment Law
Revisiting Ontario’s COVID-19 Temporary Layoffs and Dismissal Changes
During Ontario’s third lockdown, many sectors are once again navigating partial or full closures and significant changes in business operations. These changes are impacting workplaces and forcing businesses to make tough staffing decisions. Ontario has updated the regulations of the...
Termination for Cause: Actions Outside the Workplace
Outside the workplace, behavior leading to termination for cause is once again in the news here in Ontario. A London, Ontario neonatal intensive care nurse who organized an anti-mask protest in her hometown and participated in an anti-lockdown protest in...
The Importance of Language in Employment Contracts, Policies and Clauses
Employees often encounter incentive plan agreements that contain language limiting or eliminating their ability to collect such payments upon the termination of their employment. With the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision in Matthews v. Ocean Nutrition Canada Ltd., employers...
Ontario Court of Appeal decision will make you give your termination clause a second look
In Ontario, termination clauses in employment contracts must comply with the Employment Standards Act (ESA). When provisions of an employee’s contract fail to comply with the ESA, the non-compliant provisions are unenforceable. However, a recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision...
Workplace Discrimination
According to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, about three-quarters of all human rights claims in Ontario come from the workplace. Considering we spend so much of our time at work, it is important to work in a healthy environment, where...
COVID-19: Can Your Employer Force You Back to Work in Ontario?
With the Province of Ontario now into Stage 1 of its ‘Framework for Reopening’ businesses, many workers have questions about their rights as they relate working during the COVID-19 pandemic. If your employer is allowed to resume business but you...
Supporting Businesses and Employees During the COVID-19 Crisis
Both employers and employees have been thrust into an unforeseen situation with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. This public health emergency has left everyone scrambling. While certain businesses are able to continue on in a semi-normal manner,...
Constructive Dismissal: The unapparent termination
Both employees and employers alike must be aware of how changes and acts in an employment relationship can result in constructive dismissal. What is constructive dismissal? Constructive dismissal can take many forms. Among them, changes to an employee’s job title,...
Scents and Sensitivity
Much of the spotlight in employment law tends to be dealing with negative workplace behaviours. But we should not lose sight of the seemingly smaller issues that can also be significant to employees and employers. One of these issues is...
Benefits for Employees Over 65
A recent decision of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, is changing how provincially regulated employers in Ontario deal with the provision of benefits for employees who are 65 years of age and over. In Talos v. Grand Erie District School Board, 2018 HRTO 680 (CANLII), Mr. Talos brought...
