2023 Employment Law Must-Know Trends
2022 brought with it many ongoing changes in employment law. Understanding these changes will help businesses navigate the upcoming 2023 year. In this post we identify some of the major challenges that have emerged for employers in this last year, along with key trends to look out for in the new year. Accommodation requirements in […]
Lessons Learned from Lisa LaFlamme Termination
The recent and abrupt termination of News Anchor Lisa LaFlamme from CTV News has garnered significant media attention, largely for the manner in which her termination was handled. Shortly after CTV News issued a media release stating that a business decision had been made to terminate her employment, LaFlamme unexpectedly shared her own Twitter video […]
Bill 88 – More Upcoming Changes for Employers
Ontario employers should be aware of new employment legislation which may come into effect in the coming months. On February 28, 2022, Bill 88, Working for Workers Act, 2022, was tabled by the Government of Ontario. Employers are reminded that this Bill is not yet law and may undergo several modifications to the current language […]
Ontario Arbitrator Upholds Another Mandatory Policy
In the recently released decision in Chartwell Housing Reit (The Westmount, the Wynfield, the Woodhaven and the Waterford) v. Healthcare, Office and Professional Employees Union, Local 2220 (“Chartwell”), Arbitrator Gail Misra largely upheld a mandatory vaccination policy for a group of long-term care homes, but struck down the just cause termination provision which applied to staff […]
Bill 27 Does Not Invalidate Pre October 25, 2021 Non-Competition Clauses
The Ontario Superior Court recently confirmed that employees with non-competition clauses in their employment agreements which pre-date October 25, 2021 are not invalidated by the passing of Bill 27, Working for Workers Act, 2021. Bill 27 received royal assent and came into law on December 2, 2021. Amongst the changes the to the Ontario Employment […]
Ontario Arbitrator Upholds Another Mandatory Vaccination Policy
As Arbitrators continue to evaluate vaccination policies in unionized workplaces, another recent decision emphasizes that the reasonableness of a vaccination policy is a context-dependent finding. In Bunge Hamilton Canada, Hamilton Ontario v United Food and Commercial Workers Canada, Local 175, Arbitrator Herman upheld a mandatory vaccination policy, joining a growing body of arbitral decisions where […]
Ontario Arbitrators Assess Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policies: Initial Decisions
Many workplaces have introduced mandatory vaccination policies in order to minimize the risk of COVID-19 in the workplace. Such policies often have significant consequences for those employees who prefer to remain unvaccinated or to withhold their vaccination status, including unpaid leaves of absences or terminations on a for cause basis. However, the enforceability of such […]
Bill 27: Significant Changes to the ESA Proposed
Bill 27: Significant Changes to the ESA Proposed On October 25, 2021, the Government of Ontario introduced Bill 27, the Working for Workers Act, 2021, which introduces a number of significant amendments to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”), if passed into law. The proposed amendments would apply to most employees in Ontario who are […]
Employer Faces Harsh Consequences for Falsely Alleging Cause
Employer Faces Harsh Consequences for Falsely Alleging Cause Courts have increasingly demonstrated a willingness to penalize employers for asserting just cause without basis. In Humphrey v. Mene, 2021 ONSC 2539, the Ontario Superior Court went a step further, and found that even though an employer had abandoned its just cause allegations, it could no longer […]
Just Cause Provision Upheld by Ontario Superior Court
Just Cause Provision Upheld by Ontario Superior Court Post Wakdsale Following the Court of Appeal’s decision in Waksdale released in June 2020 (which we have previously written about), many termination clauses became vulnerable to findings that they were unenforceable based on ambiguously phrased just cause clauses, in turn allowing many dismissed employees to pursue common […]