Resources: Litigation

Employer’s Repudiation of Employment Contract Results in Damages Award of Over $450,000 for Dismissed Executive

In Timmins v. Artisan Cells, 2024 ONSC 7123, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued a substantial damages award – an award in the amount of $456,908.82 – in favour of the plaintiff, Nicholas Timmins.

This followed the without cause termination of Mr. Timmins’ employment as an executive at a gene therapy company named Artisan Development Labs Inc. (“Artisan”).

Notably, about three weeks before trial, Artisan withdrew its statement of defence in the action.  Mr. Timmins’ claim was thus undefended at trial.

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Employer’s Repudiation of Employment Contract Results in Damages Award of Over $450,000 for Dismissed Executive

Confirming the Historic Trade-Off: A Worker’s Civil Action is Statute-Barred When Injury Arose Out of and In the Course of Employment

Workers’ compensation is a no-fault insurance system for injuries arising out of and in the course of a worker’s employment.  Insurance systems of this kind are provincially, federally and territorially mandated through legislation. Read more on a decision involving a respondent who was injured by a falling crate of tiles.

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Confirming the Historic Trade-Off: A Worker’s Civil Action is Statute-Barred When Injury Arose Out of and In the Course of Employment

Be Careful What You Text – It Might Be a Binding Contract

In Kambere v. Castillo, 2024 BCCRT 1224, the B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal (the “CRT”) determined that the applicant, Kambere, and the respondent, Young, entered into a binding contract for Taylor Swift tickets on the basis of their text messages.

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Be Careful What You Text – It Might Be a Binding Contract

Employers Beware: B.C. Court Awards Former Employee $25,000 in Punitive Damages for Conduct in Severance Negotiations

The recent decision of the B.C. Supreme Court in Thompson v. Revolution Resource Recovery Inc., 2025 BCSC 8 is notable with respect to three issues: (i) the impact of age on reasonable notice determinations; (ii) the assessment of mitigation in the absence of evidence that new employment could be found if reasonable efforts to mitigate had been made; and (iii) awards of punitive damages when an employer fails to comply with minimum employment standards requirements.

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Employers Beware: B.C. Court Awards Former Employee $25,000 in Punitive Damages for Conduct in Severance Negotiations

Workplace Psychological Claims – BC Supreme Court Narrows the “Labour Relations Exclusion”

On March 6, 2025, the BC Supreme Court released an important and lengthy decision regarding workplace psychological claims. This trial decision addresses the second part of James Pickering’s action for benefits under the Workers Compensation Act, R.S.B.C. 2019, c. 1 [WCA].  The first part of this proceeding, indexed as Pickering v. School District No. 38 (Richmond), 2021 BCSC 1497, was a judicial review of a decision of the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal (“WCAT”).

At trial, Mr. Pickering argued that two provisions of the WCA infringe his rights under s. 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (U.K.), 1982, c. 11 [Charter]. He said that those provisions, in combination, led to the denial of his mental disorder claim for workers’ compensation. In short, he argued that his claim was denied for reasons that are discriminatory.

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Workplace Psychological Claims – BC Supreme Court Narrows the “Labour Relations Exclusion”

Employee Barred from Construction Site Deemed Constructively Dismissed

A complicated issue arises in employment law when an employer provides services to a customer and one of the employer’s employees is prohibited from working due to the customer’s requirements.

The recent decision of Kurik v. CAS Ventures Ltd., 2024 BCSC 1862 reviews this issue and provides some insight for employers.

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Employee Barred from Construction Site Deemed Constructively Dismissed

Arbitrators Consider Vaccination Policies

In the past few weeks, arbitrators have begun to issue decisions considering the reasonableness of COVID-19 vaccination policies in unionized workplaces. The following three decisions out of Ontario provide some key takeaways for employers.

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Arbitrators Consider Vaccination Policies

Issue Estoppel

Employment litigation is rarely straightforward and employers must be prepared to deal with claims in multiple forums, including in civil court and before administrative tribunals responsible for interpreting and applying human rights, workers compensation and privacy law (to name a few).

When faced with a volley of different but related claims, it can be tempting to focus all of your attention on the claim which represents the biggest threat.  That would be a mistake — while you should strategically allocate resources, it is crucial to keep all actual or potential claims in mind because decisions in one forum could be relied upon in another.

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Issue Estoppel

Taking Away Important Responsibilities for Misconduct: Arbitrator Substitutes Permanent Disciplinary Demotion for Discharge

When considering potential discipline for poor performance, a novel labour arbitration decision suggests a demotion – a permanent disciplinary demotion – may be an appropriate response.

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Taking Away Important Responsibilities for Misconduct: Arbitrator Substitutes Permanent Disciplinary Demotion for Discharge

Labour Law in the Time of Cholera

2020 was full of surprises, and 2021 continued to bring new challenges for the profession. Our corner of toil in the legal vineyards was not immune. For labour and employment lawyers, 2021 at times felt like a treadmill of legislative change, workplace vaccination policies (do not call it a mandate unless employers are forcibly injecting employees…), and helping employers plan to keep their workplaces safe.

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Labour Law in the Time of Cholera