Human Rights Tribunals: wider employment jurisdiction w/o clear limits
The complainant and Mr. Schrenk were working on a construction project for different employers. The complainant alleged that Mr. Schrenk made three derogatory statements relating to the complainant while on the worksite, and later sent offensive emails for which he was terminated. The question before the Supreme Court of Canada was a jurisdictional one: did […]
Secret recording by employee may justify termination
Donovan Plomp of McCarthy Tétrault draws our attention to an interesting decision from the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench: “an employee’s use of his work phone to secretly record meetings with management may support an employer’s decision to terminate for just cause”. It is especially interesting because the employer found out about the recordings after […]
“No return to work in the foreseeable future: an undue hardship for employers”
Ariane Villemaire and Céleste Brouillard-Ross of Lavery Lawyers in Quebec bring out attention to an employer-positive decision coming out of Quebec (Ville de Forestville c. Tribunal administratif du travail, 2017 QCCS 3999) on the issue of what constitutes “undue hardship … justifying a non-discriminatory administrative dismissal, where there is no evidence that the employee will […]
Bill 148 and the government attack on independent contracting
Among the many provisions of Bill 148 is the Ontario government’s intention to hire many more employment standards officers (175) and send them out into the business world (you know, the folks that pay taxes) with a mandate to classify independent contractors as employees and then sanction the business now deemed to be an “employer”. […]
“Wrongful Dismissal Damages Awarded to an Employee with No Service” (!)
Lisa Carlson of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (September 27, 2017) brings our attention to a BC case that may bode ill for employers: “Most employers are aware of the general requirement to provide notice or pay in lieu of notice to an employee who is being terminated without just cause during the employment relationship. However, […]
Negative references for former employees?
Shannon Whyley of MLT Aikins Law in her article “Say What You Need to Say: Employers not Liable in Defamation for Negative Employee References” provides a good summary of two Superior Court decisions [see below] which give former employers more room to provide a negative reference: “the dual judgments should give employers some comfort that […]
Some useful thoughts on probationary employee terminations
Grant Machum and Sean Kelly of Stewart McKelvey note in their article “You gotta have (good) faith: terminating without notice during the probationary period” the struggle that employers may face in choosing between different ways of terminating probationary employees. In examining two recent BC and Alberta cases, “these decisions suggest that, provided there is a […]
Marijuana may be covered by employee benefit plan.
“Denial of coverage for medical marijuana under employee benefit plan found to be discriminatory”. McCarthy Tetrault, May 2, 2017 Key quote: “While the Skinner decision does not mean that medical marijuana must be covered under every private benefit plan, it does demonstrate the necessity of considering human rights obligations when deciding how to respond to […]
Think twice before making generous termination clauses
Stringer LLP (in their First Reference post “Generous termination clauses: Think twice before making promises“) note the dangers in contract language ambiguity: it is a weak spot which will invite litigation and result in judicial intervention. In Holmes v Hatch Ltd. it was the word “appropriate”. Stringer LLP’s takeaway is accurate: “Employers may choose to […]
Why Is Domestic Violence Now Becoming a Workplace Responsibility?
Yosie Saint-Cyr at SLAW has an excellent short piece on this question here. An excerpt: “Domestic violence may prevent a victim from getting to work, prevent a victim from concentrating on work, and interfere with co-workers’ performance as well. Other employees may be impacted due to fear, stress, concern for the victim’s well-being, increased workload […]
