Prior to amendments to the Human rights code (“Code”) in 2008, Ontario’s civil courts did not have jurisdiction to hear human rights cases. the courts’ power was limited to hearing appeals of Ontario human rights tribunal decisions by way of…
The supreme court of Canada recently released its decision in R. V. Cole, 2012 scc 53, in which the court decided that employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the information contained on work computers where personal use is…
In a recent decision, Fasken martineau dumoulin LLP v. British columbia (human rights tribunal), the british columbia court of appeal has overturned rulings from the bc human rights tribunal and the bc supreme court which held that partners in business…
In a recent decision, Garrie v. Janus joan inc., The human rights tribunal of Ontario (“HRto”) has clarified the principles related to determining the limitation period for discrimination claims involving a series of discriminatory incidents that are more than one…
In Canadian union of public employees local 1999 v. Lakeridge health corporation (“lakeridge health”), the divisional court of Ontario upheld two decisions of the pay equity hearings tribunal (the “tribunal”), which found that the Pay equity act (the “act”), does…
Pay equity is about “equal pay for work of equal value” according to the pay equity commission of Ontario. however, the commission also recognizes that a persistent inequity continues to exist between men and women, which the commission refers to…
In the recent decision, Bowes v. Goss power products ltd., 2012 onca 425 (canlii), a five-member panel of the Ontario court of appeal unanimously ruled that there is no duty to mitigate if an employment agreement contains a fixed-term notice…
On a daily basis, we receive calls from unionized workers who are shocked to discover that their human-rights related grievance is subject to the nearly-unfettered discretion of their union representatives. when we tell unionized workers that they are not a…
In a recent decision, the Ontario superior court of justice awarded 26 months of notice to a long service employee of suzuki Canada named syed hussain. mr. Hussain had worked for suzuki Canada in various positions for approximately 36 years. …
Raymond giza worked as a bus driver for sechelt school bus service ltd. (“sechelt”), and its owner, randy gould, for a period of five years. on september 30, 2009, mr. Giza arrived at work to find a paycheque, a pay…
In a recent divisional court decision, the court had the opportunity to comment on limitation periods in constructive dismissal matters. this decision concerned a class certification motion brought by employees of allstate insurance company. the representative plaintiffs alleged that they,…
In this recent Ontario superior court decision, justice macdougall considered the case of a manager who was demoted in title and who had his direct reports removed from his supervision. the issue was whether this constituted constructive dismissal, especially considering…
Can you be fired for wearing an orange t-shirt? Turns out you can in florida. In a recent and on-going case in the united states, 14 employees at a florida law firm were fired En masse For wearing orange t-shirts. …
The Ontario court of appeal recently decided an interesting case in which counsel for the employer/appellant raised a novel argument regarding the interEsaIon of the Ontario Employment standards act, 2000 (“Esa”) and the common law as they relate to lay-offs…
The recent case of Olivares v. Canac kitchens, 2012 onsc 284 provides a useful reminder of what to include in a damages calculation for a wrongful dismissal case. in this case, the plaintiff had worked for canac kitchens for 24…
The court of queen’s bench for saskatchewan has ruled that the right to strike is protected by the freedom of association provisions of Charter of rights and freedoms. In a decision released in february 2012, the saskatchewan court held that…
On december 1, 2011, the supreme court of Canada granted leave to appeal of a decision of the Ontario court of appeal regarding the right of pension-plan members to claim priority over the assets of their bankrupt company to cover…
The human rights tribunal recently convened a rare tHRee-member panel to consider the issue of whether the human rights tribunal has jurisdiction to decide if the wsib’s traumatic mental stress (“tms”) policy and the related provisions of the Workplace safety…
Does your company conduct pro forma performance reviews? Do your non-unionized employees sometimes receive group salary raises in the standard course when their individual performance does not merit a raise? Performance reviews are important human resources management tools. Unfortunately, performance…
Unpaid internships are becoming more common in the labour market and are replacing entry level positions in various industries. Typically, unpaid internships have been the means of gaining experience in the television, film, and print media industries. Unpaid internships are…