Entries by BirdRichard

Firm Announcement

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

One Year Later: Are You Compliant with Bill 168?

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 […]

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

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 […]

$500,000 Arbitration Award to be Reviewed

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 […]

Who is the Employer?

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 […]

Ontario Court of Appeal Clarifies Employee Privacy Rights at Work

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 […]

Recent amendments to the PIPEDA: the Privacy Commissioner’s Discretionary Investigation Powers

In order to improve internal operational efficiencies at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) and to better serve Canadians, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA, the “Act”) has been amended. Some amendments have already been enacted, while others are forthcoming. The amendments are, in large part, a result of the five-year […]

Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Update

Emergency procedure, plans or public safety information 13. (1) In addition to its obligations under section 12, if an obligated organization prepares emergency procedures, plans or public safety information and makes the information available to the public, the obligated organization shall provide the information in an accessible format or with appropriate communication supports, as soon […]

Employee or Independent Contractor: The Intention of the Parties Matters

Two recent decisions of the Tax Court of Canada confirm that the intention of the parties is an important consideration in the determination of whether there is an employee-employer relationship, or an independent contractor relationship. In Prue v. Canada (Minister of National Revenue), Prue worked as a product demonstrator at grocery stores in the Vancouver […]

Bill 160 receives Royal Assent

As part of the Government’s commitment to act on the recommendations made by the Expert Advisory Panel on Occupational Health and Safety that was led by Tony Dean, Bill 160, the Occupational Health and Safety Statute Law Amendment Act, 2011 was adopted. The Bill amends two statutes: the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the […]