Update on Labour and Employment Law in Saskatchewan
1. Abolishment of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Tribunal: Amendments to The Saskatchewan Human Rights Code, S.S. 1979, c. S-24.1 (the “Code”), were assented to May 18, 2011 and proclaimed into force July 1, 2011. The most significant change to the...
Workplace Safety: The Workplace May Be Larger Than You Think
Your organization owns and operates a number of malls. Employees ensure that the mall parking lots are well lit and the lighting regularly maintained. In the winter months, they diligently plough and salt the lots to provide safe and easy...
Workplace Codes of Conduct: Necessary and Enforceable?
Human resources professionals may be asked to develop a “code of conduct” (a “Code”) for their organization. Codes are an expression of an organization’s values and they outline the behaviour expected of employees and others. In recent years, the impetus...
Employer Obligations on Election Day – May 2, 2011
With the next federal election scheduled for May 2, 2011, we are writing to remind employers of their obligations under the Canada Elections Act. By law, an employee who is eligible to vote must have three consecutive hours for the...
Court Confirms Just Cause at Common Law Does Not Automatically Disentitle Dismissed Employee to Statutory Termination and Severance Pay
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has recently confirmed that an employee who is terminated for just cause at common law is not automatically disentitled to statutory termination and severance payments. In Oosterbosch v. FAG Aerospace Inc., the Court was...
How Whistle-Blowing Programs in the Workplace Can Lead to Psychological Harassment
The term whistleblower generally refers to a disclosure by an individual of mismanagement, corruption or wrongdoing. While whistle-blowing has been institutionalized in the United States through the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002, many Canadian employers are now voluntarily...
Do Employees have Privacy Rights on Your Computer?
The recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision, R. v. Cole, addressed the issue of an employee’s expectation of privacy on an employer’s laptop computer. At first glance, this decision appears to have far-reaching implications for an employer’s right to monitor and...
Ontario Court of Appeal rules on the composition of Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committees
Those Ontario employers who are provincially regulated in labour and employment matters will, if they engage independent contractors and/or workers from temporary agencies, wish to consider the application to their businesses of a Court of Appeal decision released on January...
Soost v. Merrill Lynch Canada Inc.: Welcome judicial restraint exercised in the analysis of wrongful dismissal damages
There has been considerable uncertainty as to the circumstances in which a Court will award aggravated or punitive damages in respect of the dismissal of an employee. Since the seminal decision of the Supreme Court in Wallace v. UGG, dismissing...
“Pension Plan Conversions – A Legal Update”
Benefits and Pensions Monitor, Volume 20, Number 8, December
