On March 1, 2018, the Federal government passed Bill C-311, An Act to Amend the Holidays Act (Remembrance Day). The Act officially and formally recognizes Remembrance Day as a “legal holiday”.
Post-#MeToo: Confidentiality Restrictions May Go the Way of the Dodo
From a legal perspective, confidentiality is a standard term tied to settlements in the workplace. But are NDAs soon to become extinct and if so, what should employers do?
The Chalk Dust Has Not Settled on Strike Action at Ontario Schools: What’s an Employer to do?
While parents may once again find themselves scrambling to make arrangements for their children – emergency childcare, camp registration, calling on family members – employers question what will happen at their workplaces if their workers have to tend to matters at home in a school shutdown.
More Than Just a Dinner: A Thanksgiving Toolkit
Follow these Thanksgiving tips to ensure your working relationship, like your holiday, ends up being the celebration you envisioned.
The Desjardins Data Leak – How Employers Can Prevent Privacy Breaches
A single employee was responsible for the entirety of the Desjardins data breach, carrying out an internal attack right under the company’s nose. What more can (and should) an employer do?
Maternity and Parental Leave Policies: To Top Up, or to Tap Out? That is the Question…
What should employees expect when they’re expecting? Patrizia discusses whether it is discriminatory for employers to provide enhanced maternity leave benefits to female employees only.
Mind the (Gender Wage) Gap: What Lies Ahead for Ontario Employers
This past month, the US Women’s National Soccer Team made headlines amid their World Cup run by pushing for pay equality with their counterparts on the men’s team, leading to support from sponsors and the US Senate.
So what is the big deal about gender/sex discrimination in compensation and should Ontario employers be concerned?
You’ve Wined Them, You’ve Dined Them…and They’ve Stood You Up: What Employers Can Do When Jobseekers Fail to Commit
What is an employer to do in cases where they have not yet had the chance to build that relationship with a new employee who’s ghosted them?
Equality When You Are Born This Way … Not the Same Way
When it comes to employers navigating human resource issues and relationships with their employees, it’s obvious that “equal” is not the same as “identical”…
A Reasonable Expectation of Privacy: The Application of R v. Jarvis to the Employment Context
The recent Supreme Court of Canada decision in R v. Jarvis addressed the circumstances that give rise to a reasonable expectation of privacy. While the case directly considered whether certain recordings violated the Criminal Code, the Court’s broad analysis of when a reasonable expectation of privacy exists applies outside the criminal context, with relevance to employers.
Refuse, Snooze, & Lose: Ontario Arbitrator Upheld Dismissal of Worker Who Refused to Move to the Night Shift Due to Medical Reasons
For workplaces that operate with multiple shifts, dealing with employee refusals to change shifts (especially to night shift) happens all too often…
Beyond the Spectrum: The Ripple Effect of Changes to the Ontario Autism Program on Workplaces
Regardless of your political affiliation, most Ontarians can sympathize with the impact that the short-notice changes will have on children living with autism and on their families and caregivers. These changes have a ripple effect on health care, education, as well as businesses.
Workers vs. Employees – Classifying Individuals Under the Employer Health Tax Act
In Azur Human Resources Ltd. v. The Minister of Revenue, the Ontario Superior Court considered how workers affiliated with temporary placement agencies ought to be classified, not for the purposes of labour and employment legislation, but for tax purposes under the Employer Health Tax Act (the “EHTA”).
Harassers, Empty Your Pockets and Pay Up! Personal Financial Accountability for Harassment in Employment Contracts – Key Considerations
Termination is essentially the capital punishment of discipline in the employment law realm. However, what recourse is available to future employers of these “harassers”?
What’s Love Got to Do With It? Managing Office Romances
When you consider how much time people spend at work and in the office, it is not surprising that relationships of all types form amongst individuals in the workplace. But office relationships can also develop into something more.
Ghosting: What if Your Employee is Just Not That Into You?
As someone who was part of the Toronto dating scene until her mid-30s, I can tell you about ghosting, but it was not until last month that I recognized that the phenomenon had spread to other social scenarios, including employment.
Expanding the Obligations of Federal Employers: Anti-Harassment and Violence Provisions to be added to the Canada Labour Code
On October 25, 2018, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (harassment and violence), and the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act and the Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 1 (the “Act”) received Royal Assent.
HO! HO! Oh No! – What Type of Employer is Santa Claus?
As Employment Counsel, I wonder now whether it really is all cocoa and smiles being an employee of Santa Claus. Looking at workplace requirements from an Ontario perspective, Santa the employer may be exposed in a very different light.
Sentenced to Probation: How Employers Can Protect Themselves When Terminating the Employment of Recent Hires
Employers who seek to impose more rigorous oversight of new employees and minimize termination obligations to those employees can rely on appropriately drafted probationary limitations in their offers. Learn more by reading this blog.
The “New” Law of the Land – Bill 47 Officially Passes and Rolls Back Bill 148
On November 21, 2018, Bill 47, the Making Ontario Open for Business Act, 2018, received Royal Assent and was officially passed. It undoes many of the changes that the Liberal government introduced in Bill 148, returning to previous legislative language.