Ontario Court of Appeal overturns decision upholding just cause termination provision
Last year, we reported on the Ontario Superior Court’s decision in Rahman v. Cannon Design Architecture Inc. (the “Rahman decision”), in which the Court upheld a contractual termination provision on the basis of the relative equality of bargaining power between...
BC introduces single-step union certification
Bill 10, titled the Labour Relations Code Amendment Act, 2022, received Royal Assent on June 2, 2022. The Bill was sponsored by The Honourable Harry Bains, the Minister of Labour, and introduces a number of changes to the Labour Relations...
Dealing with employees’ off-duty conduct
Employers are increasingly faced with public pressure to discipline employees who engage in offensive conduct or who post offensive content online while off-duty. Employers must balance this public pressure with their duties and obligations to their employees. Determining what to...
Major overhaul of Québec’s French language law
On May 24, 2022, the National Assembly of Québec adopted Bill 96, called “An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec“. Bill 96 received assent on June 1, 2022. Bill 96 amends the Charter of the French...
( Available in French only )
Bruno Caron signale le risque que pose l’impact des changements climatiques dans le secteur financier de la gestion d’actifs pour les gestionnaires de caisses de retraite
La Presse, «Les caisses de retraite défiées par les attentes en investissement durable»
Le défi d’intégrer les principes d’investissement responsable et des critères ESG (environnement, société, gouvernance) est complexe pour les administrateurs de régimes de retraite. Les gestionnaires de caisses de retraite qui tardent à intégrer des critères d’investissement durable courent le risque...
COVID-19 vaccination policies: Early employer successes in round two
A number of arbitration awards dealing with COVID-19 vaccination policies were released in late 2021 and early 2022. While most of these policies were upheld, it remained to be seen how COVID-19 vaccination policies would be viewed once governments started...
Bill 88—Working for Workers Act, Part 2 passes third reading
On April 7, 2022, Ontario’s Bill 88 (the “Bill”) passed third reading in the Legislature and is anticipated to receive Royal Assent in the coming days. As summarized in our previous communique published when the Bill was first introduced, the...
Part two: Workplace considerations post-COVID-19 workplace mandates
In part one of this two-part series on transitioning from COVID-19 workplace mandates, we covered the latest and upcoming changes to COVID-19 workplace safety requirements in British Columbia. In part two, we explain what these changes mean in light of...
Part one: BC relaxes COVID-19 workplace measures
British Columbia continues to take steps toward relaxing COVID-19 workplace safety requirements and returning employees to the office, in keeping with recent trends among provincial governments in Canada. On March 11, 2022, the B.C. Provincial Health Officer lifted mandatory face-cover...
More new requirements on the horizon for Ontario employers
On February 24, 2022, the Ontario government announced it would be introducing legislation requiring large employers to “tell their workers if, how and why” they are being monitored electronically. This was followed by an announcement on February 28, 2022 that...
