Resources: Employment
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Ontario Court of Appeal Confirms Nude Selfies Are Not Offensive
August 2019
In Zigomanis v. 2156775 Ontario Inc. (D’Angelo Brands), 2018 ONCA 116, the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld a lower court decision that a professional hockey player’s nude selfies did not offend public morals and decency and there was thus no basis to terminate a promotional contract.
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Ontario Court of Appeal Confirms Nude Selfies Are Not Offensive -
Family Feud: Survey Says BC Test for Family Status Discrimination is Good Law
August 2019
In a decision issued August 8, 2019, Brian Suen v. Envirocon Environmental Services, ULC et al., 2019 CanLII 73206 (SCC), the Court dismissed the leave application of a human rights complainant who alleged he was subjected to prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of family status (familial obligations), and implicitly approved of the test for family status discrimination developed by the BC Court of Appeal in 2004 and recently reaffirmed in Envirocon Environmental Services, ULC v. Suen, 2019 BCCA 46.
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Family Feud: Survey Says BC Test for Family Status Discrimination is Good Law -
Six Months for Six Months: Is One Month’s Notice per One Month of Employment Reasonable?
August 2019
The past few years have seen a wave of Canadian court awards involving significant reasonable notice periods for short service employees, and the recent B.C. case of Greenlees v. Starline Windows Ltd, 2018 BCSC 1457 is a prime example.
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Six Months for Six Months: Is One Month’s Notice per One Month of Employment Reasonable? -
Employee’s Desire to Return to Work After Extended Medical Leave Not Enough to Trigger Duty to Accommodate
July 2019
In Katz et al. v. Clarke, 2019 ONSC 2188, the plaintiff had been hired by the defendant in 2000 as a front store manager. He had gone on sick leave due to a disability in July 2008 and had not returned to work after that. He had been disabled by two falls which had occurred outside the workplace and injured his knee and leg. As a result of the injuries, the plaintiff required a crutch and brace on a permanent basis. He received both short-term disability (“STD”) and long-term disability (“LTD”) benefits.
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Employee’s Desire to Return to Work After Extended Medical Leave Not Enough to Trigger Duty to Accommodate -
Getting Back Together with an Ex: Constructive Dismissal and Offers of Re-Employment
July 2019
In the recently released Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision, Gent v. Strone Inc., 2019 ONSC 155, the Court reaffirmed that an employee’s duty to mitigate may well include accepting an offer of re-employment with his or her former employer.
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Getting Back Together with an Ex: Constructive Dismissal and Offers of Re-Employment -
Terminating Post-Train Wreck? Let’s Talk Training — Failure to Train Someone Other than Plaintiff Can Erode Just Cause for Dismissal
July 2019
Richard Tymko was discharged from employment when the train on which he was working as a switchman derailed in the internal rail yard of a pulp mill in northern British Columbia. His employer, 4-D Warner Enterprises, terminated his employment because it alleged he failed to tell his co-worker, the trackmobile operator, to apply the train’s brakes and that caused the derailment.
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Terminating Post-Train Wreck? Let’s Talk Training — Failure to Train Someone Other than Plaintiff Can Erode Just Cause for Dismissal -
Unconscionability in the Gig Economy: Ontario Court of Appeal Tackles Uber’s Mandatory Arbitration Clause
June 2019
The Ontario Court of Appeal recently issued a decision in Heller v. Uber Technologies Inc., 2019 ONCA 1 and found that the mandatory arbitration clause in Uber’s form of services agreement was unconscionable.
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Unconscionability in the Gig Economy: Ontario Court of Appeal Tackles Uber’s Mandatory Arbitration Clause -
Statutory Changes to Collective Bargaining Framework in British Columbia
June 2019
The laws that govern both unionized and non-unionized workplaces in British Columbia are changing. Bill 8, the Employment Standards Amendments Act, 2019, received its first reading in the B.C. Legislature on April 29, 2019. On the following day, Bill 30, the Labour Relations Code Amendment Act, also was tabled for its first reading.
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Statutory Changes to Collective Bargaining Framework in British Columbia -
What Could Go Wrong When an Employer Rehires a Former Employee It Previously Terminated, Without Cause, But Under the Cloud of a Sexual Harassment Complaint?
June 2019
It’s surprising that the question in the title of this article even needs to be asked. However, in the case of Colistro v. Tbaytel, 2019 ONCA 197 the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld a lower court decision that considered just that scenario. The Court of Appeal’s distaste for the Employer’s conduct is apparent from the opening words of the decision:
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What Could Go Wrong When an Employer Rehires a Former Employee It Previously Terminated, Without Cause, But Under the Cloud of a Sexual Harassment Complaint? -
Summary of Changes to the B.C. Employment Standards Act
May 2019
On May 30, 2019, the Provincial Government passed changes to the B.C. Employment Standards Act (the “ESA”). The ESA is the law that sets minimum standards for workplaces in the province, and has not been significantly updated for 15 years. The changes are overwhelmingly employee-friendly.
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Summary of Changes to the B.C. Employment Standards Act