While courts have often held there may be just cause for termination based on certain off duty conduct, a recent case has gone the other way. Recently, in Merritt v. Tigercat Industries, 2016 ONSC 1214 (CanLII), the Ontario Superior Court of Justice reinforced the notion that an employer cannot rely on the mere existence
Part of the ‘bargain’ of collective bargaining is that bargaining unit members surrender many of their common law employment rights if they aren’t expressly provided in the collective agreement. This was the issue that recently came before the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Bruce v Cohon when former CFL wide receiver Arland Bruce brought
At common law, a contract can only be amended in accordance with its terms or with the agreement of all the parties. An employment contract is no different – an employer can only change its terms if the contract allows or if the employee agrees to the changes.
It is likely that certain terms will
Bill S-201, An Act to prohibit and prevent genetic discrimination, is currently being reviewed and debated by the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights. If passed, this Bill would impose quasi-criminal sanctions for genetic discrimination in the workplace, meaning that employers could face significant penalties in the future, including imprisonment. While the principle
The Alberta government recently introduced Bill 4, An Act to Implement a Supreme Court Ruling Governing Essential Services, which proposes to extend the right to strike to certain public-sector workers.
Alberta has traditionally banned strikes and lockouts involving most public-sector employees. However, in the 2015 decision Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v Saskatchewan, 2015
In a time where social media is everywhere and a business’s reputation means everything, employers continue to try and understand how certain posts on social media can justify an employee’s termination in the appropriate circumstances.
In MacKinnon v Helpline Inc., the Court ruled that an employee’s private, non-confidential, off-duty communications via Facebook
On 1 March 2016, the Dutch senate adopted the Act House for whistleblowers (the Act). The Act introduces an independent and impartial governmental institution that investigates wrongdoing and assists employees in disclosure proceedings: the House for Whistleblowers. In addition, the proposal introduces several rules to protect whistleblowers. The Act is expected to come into force
In January 2016, the Supreme Court of British Columbia released its decision in Feldstein v 364 Northern Development Corporation, 2016 BCSC 108. The employee in that case suffered from cystic fibrosis, a chronic, degenerative disease primarily affecting the lungs, since the age of nine. The employee stated that given his condition, he would not
In the 2014 decision of Bhasin v Hrynew, the Supreme Court of Canada held that the duty of good faith requires that an insurer deal with its insured’s claim fairly, both with respect to the manner in which it investigates and assesses the claim, and the decision whether or not to pay it. This
Significant activity has taken place in the areas of chain of responsibility (CoR), executive officer liability and the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) in recent times (see also our previous updates).