Articles 2023

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Today
Are Ontario Employers Ready for Bill 177?

Are Ontario Employers Ready for Bill 177?

  • April 18, 2017
  • Inna Koldorf

Bill 177, once passed, will amend the Employment Standards Act, 2000 and the Occupational Health and Safety Act to introduce a new leave of absence for employees who are or have experienced domestic or sexual violence, or whose children are or have experienced domestic or sexual violence.

Labour and Employment Law
Summary Judgment in the Employment Law Context

Summary Judgment in the Employment Law Context

  • March 27, 2017
  • Andrew Monkhouse and Samantha Lucifora

The Hryniak decision called for a culture shift, and this shift has been strongly felt by employment lawyers, specifically with a recent increase in the scope of what summary judgment motions have been resolved, or partially resolved, by the Courts.

Labour and Employment Law
Ontario Superior Court of Justice Upholds Termination Clause that does Not Explicitly Mention Continuation of Benefits and Severance Pay

Ontario Superior Court of Justice Upholds Termination Clause that does Not Explicitly Mention Continuation of Benefits and Severance Pay

  • March 09, 2017
  • Giovanna Di Sauro

In Oudin v. Centre Francophone de Toronto, plaintiffs were reminded that the interpretation of employment contracts is not merely an exercise in searching for a reason to set aside a termination provision. The recent decision in Cook v. Hatch Ltd. suggests courts may be skeptical of arguments that aim to do just that.

Labour and Employment Law
Managing Discipline and Disability: A New Approach for Ontario?

Managing Discipline and Disability: A New Approach for Ontario?

  • February 08, 2017
  • Heather Power

A recent arbitral decision has endorsed an alternative framework for arbitrators considering misconduct that is connected to a disability. Previously, the consensus in Ontario was that arbitrators ought to simultaneously apply a disciplinary or just cause analysis to the culpable aspects of the misconduct and a human rights analysis to the non-culpable aspect. This single stage inquiry has now been supplanted in favour of a two-stage analysis.

Labour and Employment Law
Forging the Way to Just Cause

Forging the Way to Just Cause

  • February 06, 2017
  • Deborah Hudson

The courts view just cause for dismissal as the capital punishment of employment law. Consequently, employers face a significant burden when trying to prove just cause at law. Arguing just cause for dismissal may be difficult; however, it is not impossible, especially in circumstances involving dishonesty or lack of trust. This article summarizes two recent decisions where employers were found to be justified in terminating employees with just cause based on forgery.

Labour and Employment Law
Summary Judgment Motions for Wrongful Dismissal: An Update

Summary Judgment Motions for Wrongful Dismissal: An Update

  • February 06, 2017
  • Andrew Vey

Since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Hryniak v. Mauldin, 2014 SCC 7 (“Hryniak”), summary judgment has become one of the primary tools used by employment lawyers. Recent Ontario court decisions have expanded upon Hryniak and now provide a framework for the circumstances in which to seek summary judgment in the context of a wrongful dismissal. These decisions, however, also serve as a reminder of the limitation of summary judgment and how parties should properly engage with it.

Labour and Employment Law

A Year in Review: Workplace Violence and Harassment

  • December 20, 2016
  • Betty Psarris

This past year has been an important one regarding the workplace violence and harassment provisions of the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act with developments relating to: (i) an employer’s obligations and duties; (ii) the release of one of the first decisions regarding charges laid under the workplace violence provisions of the OHSA; and (iii) the first convictions and fines levied against employers for failure to comply with the workplace violence provisions of the Act.

Labour and Employment Law