Court Allows Employer to Continue Random Drug Testing over Union’s Legal Objections
Unionized employers often face resistance when attempting to introduce drug and alcohol testing in the workplace. This is particularly true where the testing is going to be carried out at random. Employers who introduce these types of testing policies often face policy grievances challenging both the legality of the policy itself, and the employer’s right...
Continue reading the post titled Court Allows Employer to Continue Random Drug Testing over Union’s Legal ObjectionsNo personal environmental conviction without knowledge or participation
When is an individual liable to conviction for a corporate environmental offence? The Ontario Ministry of the Environment has insisted that management personnel are automatically liable for corporate environmental offences, and has laid numerous charges on this basis. The Summary Conviction Appeal Court disagrees. For personal liability, individual defendants must either participate in committing the...
Continue reading the post titled No personal environmental conviction without knowledge or participationCourt Grants Leave to Appeal on Umbrella Purchaser Issue
Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology v Hitachi, Ltd., 2017 ONSC 2791 In Fanshawe v Hitachi, the plaintiff alleges that the defendants engaged in a conspiracy to fix the prices for CRT (an older technology used in televisions and computer monitors). The plaintiff alleges breach of the Competition Act, RSC 1985, c C-34 (the “Competition...
Continue reading the post titled Court Grants Leave to Appeal on Umbrella Purchaser IssueAuditors Must Properly Audit Their Client Companies and Would be Legally Liable if they Fail to do so, Supreme Court of Canada Holds
Case commentary: Deloitte & Touche v Livent Inc (Receiver of), 2017 SCC 63 In a long-awaited judgment rendered today, a unanimous Supreme Court of Canada held that Deloitte & Touche (now, Deloitte LLP) owed, and breached, a duty of care by failing to perform a proper statutory audit of its client, the defunct Livent Inc....
Continue reading the post titled Auditors Must Properly Audit Their Client Companies and Would be Legally Liable if they Fail to do so, Supreme Court of Canada HoldsDo Employers Have Human Rights Obligations to Former Employees?
Two sisters from Inuvik Native Bands were employed by White Tornado Cleaning Services, owned by Rhonda Sallows. Their employment ended when they both quit, in response to allegedly being yelled at repeatedly by Ms. Sallows. Ms. Sallows subsequently told the sisters that she was decreasing their pay rate to minimum wage for their last day...
Continue reading the post titled Do Employers Have Human Rights Obligations to Former Employees?What Does it Take to be a Representative Plaintiff in a Class Proceeding?
In most class actions, class counsel represent class members in Court. One class member, the “representative plaintiff,” has important responsibilities with special duties to absent class members. Ontario’s class proceeding legislation requires that each class action have a representative plaintiff who: (i) would fairly and adequately represent the interests of the class; (ii) has produced...
Continue reading the post titled What Does it Take to be a Representative Plaintiff in a Class Proceeding?Goodbye, Backlogs; Hello, Agency Class Actions
Government agencies across Canada are struggling to process a growing backlog of claims. Few agencies are immune. In April 2018, an independent review concluded that Canada’s refugee determination system is dealing with a surge in claims that it is ill-equipped to manage. In December 2017, the media reported on the skyrocketing volume of veterans disability...
Continue reading the post titled Goodbye, Backlogs; Hello, Agency Class ActionsMore on killing birds with buildings as an environmental offence
Ecojustice has settled its bird-killing prosecution against the Menkes Developments (Consilium Place) office complex. As described in a previous post, Ecojustice (as counsel for Ontario Nature) charged Menkes with environmental offences. They proved that these buildings were unusually dangerous to birds, killing or injuring 900 birds during 2008 and 2009 as a result of collisions with their reflective glass. At trial,...
Continue reading the post titled More on killing birds with buildings as an environmental offenceRuling: Wind turbine approvals comply with the Charter
While some people find wind turbines annoying, subjective annoyance is not so serious an infringement of personal security to constitute a breach of the Charter.
Continue reading the post titled Ruling: Wind turbine approvals comply with the CharterAnother small step for environmental research at the Experimental Lakes Area
The long, painful process of rescuing the irreplaceable Experimental Lakes Area of fresh water environmental research has taken another small but essential step. The Ministry of the Environment has made the decision to proceed with proposed regulations under the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) and Ontario Water Resources Act (OWRA) to create a mechanism to authorize experiments...
Continue reading the post titled Another small step for environmental research at the Experimental Lakes AreaReceive Blog Posts
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