Labour & Employment

I’ve often said that my job is mostly about people behaving badly at work, so the fact situations underlying the cases I read are often all too human in nature.  Consider the case of Winnie, who was fighting with her common-law husband about money. She wasn’t convinced he was actually paying…

It’s a Happy New Year indeed for labour/employment lawyers and their clients, who now have clear direction from the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal on the thorny issue of when duplicative litigation will be permitted (or not!) before the Tribunal. Previously, the Tribunal had issued conflictin…

Several months ago, I blogged briefly about the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (“AODA”), which became law in 2005.  As part of that law, every private-sector and not-for-profit organization that provides goods or services to the public or to third parties and that has at l…

Sometimes we management-side labour/employment lawyers get a little discouraged by case law which can, on occasion, seem to favour employees.  But once in a while there’s good news and it is particularly good when it comes from the Supreme Court of Canada.  Last week, the SCC strongly reaffi…

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (“AODA”) became law in 2005.  As part of that law, every private-sector and not-for-profit organization that provides goods or services to the public or to third parties and that has at least one employee in Ontario must be in compliance …

As summer wanes, I’m wringing every last ray of sunshine out of the ever-shortening days. One of the ways I’m doing this is by sometimes extending weekends into Friday afternoons or Monday mornings, relying on my trusty BlackBerry to keep on top of work while still enjoying the beach or the …

One of the messages that we deliver to clients all the time is the importance of using written employment agreements for all employees. A recent case from the Ontario Court of Appeal stands for the proposition that the unskilled nature of employment is no longer much of a factor in determini…

When will it end? Many of our clients are becoming increasingly frustrated with the imposition of onerous statutory obligations. And now the Ontario Divisional Court has added another to the pile. Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act requires that a critical injury, which includes a …

While watching a professional development webcast for employment lawyers last month, what stuck in my mind was that I needed to blog about temporary layoffs. Why, you ask?  Well, after practicing employment law for the past 12 years, I have come to realize how few employers understand their …

How times have changed!  Back in the dark ages of my youth, we took postal strikes for granted.  Every few years, the posties got restless and our Sears catalogue was delayed for a week or two.  Unless it was the Wish Book, most people pretty much took it in stride.  Not so today.  Judging by...