Articles 2021

When dismissing an employee, Canada Labour Code (“Code”) governed employers face different legal considerations than provincially regulated employers.

It is a fact of life. Employees sometimes need flexibility to start or leave work at different times than originally agreed with their employer. Sometimes this is because of child care issues. A recent appellate decision, Peternel v. Custom Granite & Marble Ltd., confirms that employer flexibility in granting occasional requests does not always modify the underlying employment contract.

In Groves v. UTS Consultants Inc., 2019 ONSC 5605, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice held that a termination clause, which was found to contract out of the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the ESA), could not be read to comply with the ESA despite containing a "saving clause."

On October 23, 2018, the Ontario government introduced Bill 47 - the Making Ontario Open for Business Act, 2018. In this article, Marc Rodrigue reviews the changes to the province's employment standards and labour relations legislation that will result from Bill 47 once adopted,

In its recent decision in Watson v. The Governing Council of the Salvation Army of Canada, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found that sexual harassment, intimidation and other "improper conduct" at work were not connected to employment. Inna Koldorf reviews this decision, highlighting the implications for employers.

Employees are protected from all workplace harassment according to the Supreme Court of Canada in a recent case in British Columbia.

Employers sometimes rely on severability clauses to hedge against the risk that clauses in employment contracts could be found to run afoul of the Employment Standards Act and be unenforceable as a whole. However, in a recent decision, the Ontario Court of Appeal signalled that these clauses have limited effect when parties include terms in agreements that contract out of minimum employment standards.