January 17, 2019 A recent Ontario Superior Court of Justice case, Peternel v. Custom Granite & Marble Ltd., 2018, provides useful guidance for employers seeking to understand the ever-evolving process of accommodating family status under human rights legislation. Background: The case involved an employee returning from maternity leave. Prior to her maternity leave, the employee’s […]
January 3, 2019 The Superior Court of Quebec’s decision in Digital Shape Technologies Inc c. Walker, has held that a non-disparagement clause in a release is not a violation of the freedom of speech guarantees provided by the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. In this case, the former employee signed a release in […]
December 20, 2018 Federally regulated employers have more changes on the horizon with the recent passing of Bill C-65, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (harassment and violence), the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act and the Budget Implementation Act, 2017 – a bill that focuses primarily on expanding employer obligations when it […]
December 7th, 2018 After a seven-year-long legal battle with its union, Suncor will finally commence random drug and alcohol testing in early 2019 at its oil sands worksites. On November 29, 2018, contractors were notified by Suncor that they will be required to conduct random drug tests on workers on designated work sites. The decision […]
December 3, 2018 If your head has been spinning with all the legislative changes lately, now you have one less thing to worry about as the Ontario government has stalled the Pay Transparency Act, which had been set to take effect January 2019. The Act, which was passed in the spring, was aimed to help […]
November 23, 2018 On October 29, 2018, Bill C-86, A second Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on February 27, 2018 and other measures (the” Bill”) was tabled. If passed, employers who are federally regulated for employment purposes (i.e. governed by the Canada Labour Code) will be facing major changes […]
November 22, 2018 Yesterday, on November 21, 2018, Bill 47 Making Ontario Open for Business Act (“Open for Business Act”) received Royal Assent with an effective date of January 1, 2019. The Open for Business Act repeals many of the workplace amendments implemented by the previous Liberal government under the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, […]
November 21, 2018 Further to our e2r™ Alert earlier this year, on March 20, 2018, Quebec’s Minister responsible for Labour, Dominique Vien, presented Bill 176: An Act to amend the Act respecting labour standards and other legislative provisions mainly to facilitate family-work balance (“Bill”) in the Quebec National Assembly. Bill 176 has since come into […]
November 15, 2018 The British Columbia Government recently introduced Bill 50, The Human Rights Code Amendment Act, 2018. If passed, this Bill will significantly change B.C.’s human rights regime, which hasn’t been the subject of change since 2002. Noteworthy, the Bill proposes to do the following: Extend the time for filling a complaint from 6 […]
November 1, 2018 On October 17, 2018, the same day marijuana officially became legal across Canada, Ontario passed Bill 36 – The Cannabis Legislation (“Bill”) and set in force the new Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 (“SFOA”). You may recall from previous e2r™ Alerts that SFOA was scheduled to come into force on July 1, 2018 […]