July 4, 2018 On June 12, 2018, Quebec’s National Assembly adopted Bill 176: An Act to amend the Act respecting labour standards and other legislative provisions mainly to facilitate family-work balance. The amendments to the Labour Standards Act include changes pertaining to equal pay for equal work, vacation, bereavement leave, personnel agencies and sick leave. Particularly […]
June 21, 2018 On July 1, 2018, the new Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 (“SFO Act”) will come into force. This piece of legislation repeals and replaces the Electronic Cigarettes Act, 2015 and the Smoke-Free Ontario Act. The purpose of this new legislation is to expand on the restrictions found in earlier pieces of legislation which […]
June 7, 2018 Among other recently proposed changes to Quebec’s labour laws was a private member’s bill which, if passed, would require employers to implement an after hours’ policy allowing employees to disconnect from work communications. If passed, Bill 1097 would require employers to establish a policy outlining weekly periods when employees are entitled to […]
May 24, 2018 The Supreme Court of Canada recently issued two decisions that found that Quebec’s pay equity legislation, which was intended to ensure equal pay for men and women, is unconstitutional. Quebec (Attorney General) v. Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux The Quebec government amended the Pay […]
May 10th, 2018 Continuing the recent trend reported in prior e2r™ Alerts, on April 9, 2018, the BC Government introduced Bill 6 – Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2018, which proposes to amend the BC Employment Standards Act. In particular, it proposes to amend certain existing leaves of absence as well as introduce 2 new unpaid […]
April 26, 2018 Do you have employees working from home? Have you ever contemplated ending this arrangement? If so, it may not be as simple as you think! At the end of 2017, the Ontario Superior Court confirmed that taking away an employee’s ability to work from home was a significant factor in determining whether […]
April 12, 2018 The reach of provincial privacy legislation is ever expanding, as evidenced by a recent decision from B.C’s Privacy Commission requiring a company to disclose the job applications of a group of unsuccessful applicants. By way of background, the B.C Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) governs the collection, use and disclosure of personal […]
March 29, 2018 Over the last several months, the Liberal government in Quebec has reiterated that reform to the Act respecting labour standards (the “Act”) was coming. 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 […]
March 15, 2018 If you thought you could get away with major discrepancies between your employees’ compensation, think again. Ontario has now proposed a “pay transparency” bill which, if passed, will require employers to track and report compensation gaps based on gender or other various diversity measures. If passed, the bill would include the following: […]
March 1, 2018 As discussed in previous e2r Alerts, the courts in Ontario are examining termination clauses in employment agreements with a microscope. Cases have consistently demonstrated that in order for a termination provision to be enforceable, the provision must meet minimum entitlements upon termination provided for in the employment standards legislation, including specific reference […]