Court of Appeal Establishes Test to be Applied in Determining if a Government Program is Discriminatory under the Ontario Human Rights Code

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In Director, Ontario Disability Support Program v. Tranchemontagne et al., the Court of Appeal established the test to be applied in determining whether a government program is discriminatory under the Ontario Human Rights Code, and determined whether that test involves the same analysis for discrimination that is applied under s. 15 of the Canadian Charter […]

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Bill C-28: How will it affect Your Organization?

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Bill C-28, the Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act, received Royal Assent in December 2010. Similar in many respects to its predecessor, Bill C-27, the Electronic Commerce Protection Act, which died on the order paper in December 2009, Bill C-28 aims to prohibit the sending of unsolicited commercial electronic messages. The anti-spam rules apply to […]

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Bill 68 Update

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We first reported on Ontario Bill 68, The Open for Business Act, 2010, in our Fall 2010 newsletter. As of January 19th, 2011, amendments to the Employment Standards Act (ESA) pursuant to Bill 68 have changed the ESA claims process in Ontario. The amendments aim to encourage employers and employees to resolve ESA issues internally, […]

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Canadian Human Rights Tribunal Orders Reinstatement of Air Canada Pilots

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The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ordered the reinstatement of two Air Canada pilots compelled to retire upon reaching age 60. The pilots’ retirement was mandatory according to the terms of both the pension plan and the collective agreement between the airline and the union. The two Air Canada Pilots argued that being forced to […]

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Firm Announcement

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The Firm welcomes our new Associate Katherine Symonds. Katherine completed her articles with the Firm and has recently been called to the Bar.

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One Year Later: Are You Compliant with Bill 168?

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Last summer, Bill 168 was declared in force by the Ontario Government. This Bill made significant amendments to Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act, and placed onerous obligations on employers with respect to workplace harassment and violence prevention. The Bill made it mandatory for all Ontario employers to conduct risk assessments of their workplaces, create […]

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New Ontario Human Rights Commission Policy on Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment

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The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) released a new policy on the prevention of sexual and gender-based harassment in early 2011. The policy provides a general overview of sexual and gender-based harassment, and then offers more context-specific information for employers, as well as for housing providers and educators. The policy provides examples of conduct that […]

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$500,000 Arbitration Award to be Reviewed

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In our Summer 2010 newsletter, we reported on an award of Arbitrator Owen Shime, in which he ordered the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) to pay over $500,000 in damages for bad faith conduct in the termination of a PSAC employee for suspected abuse of sick leave. This unprecedented award included: damages for past and […]

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Who is the Employer?

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Several recent decisions of courts and tribunals across Canada have answered the question “who is the employer?” In three recent decisions, a broad view was taken of the concepts of “employee” and “employment,” while a recent decision of the Alberta Court of Appeal moves in a different direction. Ontario Court of Appeal In Ontario (Ministry […]

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Ontario Court of Appeal Clarifies Employee Privacy Rights at Work

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The Ontario Court of Appeal recently released its judgment in R. v. Cole, in which it set out employee’s privacy rights with respect to personal information stored on a work computer. A school board had launched an investigation after noticing that there was a high level of activity between a teacher’s work computer, which had […]

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