The Ontario government is increasing the minimum wage on October 1st, 2023 to $16.55 an hour. The Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, Monte McNaughton, acknowledges that this 6.8 percent increase will aid low-income workers with the increased cost of living. Workers who average 40 hours per week will have an increase of […]
The Ontario government is proposing changes to the Working for Workers Acts, 2021 and 2022. The changes will require women’s-only washrooms on construction sites and make the skilled trades more accessible for everyone. The women’s-only washrooms aims to promote a more private, clean and safe environment on construction sites. The implementation of this policy would […]
The Ontario government is introducing new legislation to create job-protected leave for injured military reservists. If passed, the legislation will allow military reservists to return to their civilian jobs after deployment. A job-protected leave will acknowledge their physical and mental trauma, and could provide the reservists with additional time off to recover before returning to […]
On March 20, 2023, the Ontario government introduced the Working for Workers Act, 2023. This act will strengthen protections for temporary foreign workers who have become increasingly vulnerable to employers who withhold or retain a foreign worker’s passport or work permit. The highest maximum fines in Canada may be imposed on both businesses and individuals […]
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has determined that an employee’s refusal to comply with a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy can give rise to the frustration of contract. In this case, a mandatory vaccination policy was implemented by Bell Canada, which operates through VuPoint Systems Ltd. (VuPoint). Two days after the policy was in effect, […]
In the recent decision Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario v. York Region District School Board, 2022 ONCA 476, the Court of Appeal for Ontario found that a school’s principal breached two teachers’ rights to privacy when he read and documented the teachers’ personal emails to each other, which had been left open on a school laptop. This […]
The Ontario government is proposing updates to the Ontario Employment Standards Act (ESA) in an effort to protect remote workers. The proposed amendments seek to ensure that remote workers receive the same notice of termination, or pay-in-lieu of notice, as in-office employees would receive in mass termination situations. Currently, employers are only required to share […]
The Ontario government has announced that it will be introducing regulatory amendments to expand cancer coverage for firefighters. The amendments to the Ontario Regulation 253/07 made under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997, will expand the list of presumptive illnesses to include certain cancers. The amendments will provide firefighters with access to compensation to support the […]
Bird Richard recognizes the importance of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information it collects about its employees and clients. READ MORE >>>
508-130 Albert St,
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 5G4
T: 613-238-3772
F: 613-238-5955
Before you send an e-mail to Bird Richard, please be aware that your communications with us through this message will not create a lawyer-client relationship with us. Do not send us any information that you or anyone else considers to be confidential or secret unless we have first agreed to be your lawyers in that matter. Any information you send us before we agree to be your lawyers cannot be protected from disclosure.