On March 11, 2010 Canada ratified the United Nations’ International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention is an international human rights instrument to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. Its chief goal is to ensure the full and effective participation and inclusion in society for people with disabilities. […]
In Canada (Canadian Human Rights Commission) v. Attorney General of Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada granted the Commission leave to appeal from the decision of the Federal Court of Appeal, in which that court found that the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) did not have the jurisdiction to award legal costs. The complainant, Donna […]
In Arasteh v. Best Buy Canada Ltd., the British Columbia Supreme Court confirmed that a termination clause contained in an employee handbook which limits the amount of notice of termination owing to an employee was enforceable. Mr. Arasteh worked for Best Buy for six years before he was terminated for poor performance. The trial judge […]
The Firm welcomes our new Associate, Peter MacTavish. Peter worked as in-house counsel for one of our large crown corporation clients. Peter brings to the Firm a full range of expertise in labour and employment law. We also welcome our new Articling Student, Katherine Symonds.
On May 25th, 2010, the Government of Canada introduced Bill C-29, which will alter the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”). The changes to the federal private sector privacy legislation are the result of a parliamentary review of the legislation that occurred in 2007. Among the proposed amendments are changes which include: mandatory […]
The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (“WSIB”) has developed draft policies to support the implementation of Bill 119, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Amendment Act, 2008. Under the draft policies, the WSIB anticipates the launching of a web-based eClearance system for obtaining clearance certificates. Clearance certificates are issued to employers (or contractors and subcontractors in […]
Unionized public service employees are being asked by the Ontario government to accept a wage freeze. On March 25th, 2010, the Ontario government tabled Bill 16, which included the Creating the Foundation for Jobs and Growth Act, 2010. This Act enforces a two-year freeze on compensation structures and affects MPPs and over 350,000 non-unionized public […]
In a recent decision out of Saskatchewan, an arbitrator denied severance pay to employees who were on strike at the time their employer went out of business. The employer ran a specialized printing company that printed tickets for professional sports teams, airline tickets and boarding passes, transit tickets and passes for the Toronto Transit Authority, […]
With the use of e-mail, instant messaging and social networking becoming increasingly popular, many employers are beginning to question how they can appropriately supervise employee’s use of technology in the workplace. The Assistant Privacy Commissioner addressed the complaint of an employee pursuant to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, which alleged that his […]
Ontario Bill 68, The Open for Business Act, 2010, was tabled on May 17th, 2010. The Act proposes 100 amendments to various acts. In particular, the Government of Ontario seeks to modernize the employment standards regime as follows: elimination of a backlog of employment standards claims within two years (by launching a Task Force in […]