Some recent cases and articles have proposed that an employee’s “character of employment,” which is usually understood to mean an employee’s rank within an employer’s organization, could become a less relevant factor in assessing notice periods. The traditional approach has been that higher-ranked employees are entitled to greater notice periods than lower-ranked employees. This two-part […]

The Emerging “Egalitarian” Approach In some recent decisions from outside Ontario, trial judges have again been questioning the emphasis that has often been placed on character of employment as a factor in fixing notice periods. Interestingly, the approach taken in these recent decisions has been more explicitly egalitarian than the approach that was rejected in […]

In its 2006 decision Tranchemontagne v Ontario (Director, Disability Support Program), the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed that all administrative tribunals, and not just human rights tribunals, are entitled and required to apply human legislation, unless expressly prohibited from doing so by their enabling statute. Practically speaking, from an employment law perspective, this has meant […]

Philip Chan was a general manager for Denny’s restaurants and had been employed with Denny’s for 15 years when he resigned from his job after his supervisor criticized his performance and threatened him with dismissal. Believing that his termination was imminent, Mr. Chan submitted a resignation letter to his employer, which provided the following explanation […]

Unpaid internships are becoming more common in the labour market and are replacing entry level positions in various industries. Typically, unpaid internships have been the means of gaining experience in the television, film, and print media industries. Unpaid internships are supposed to be educational opportunities that lead to gainful employment, but many unpaid interns find […]

Does your company conduct pro forma performance reviews? Do your non-unionized employees sometimes receive group salary raises in the standard course when their individual performance does not merit a raise? Performance reviews are important human resources management tools. Unfortunately, performance reviews are also one of the many administrative tasks that do not directly produce any […]

The Human Rights Tribunal recently convened a rare three-member panel to consider the issue of whether the Human Rights Tribunal has jurisdiction to decide if the WSIB’s Traumatic Mental Stress (“TMS”) policy and the related provisions of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act (“WSIA”) constitute a breach of the Human Rights Code in the provision […]

On December 1, 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal of a decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal regarding the right of pension-plan members to claim priority over the assets of their bankrupt company to cover a shortfall in their pension plan: Sun Indalex Finance, LLC v. United Steal Workers, [2011] […]

The Court of Queen’s Bench for Saskatchewan has ruled that the right to strike is protected by the freedom of association provisions of Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In a decision released in February 2012, the Saskatchewan Court held that that province’s Public Service Essential Services Act (“PSES Act”) substantially infringes on the right of employees […]

The recent case of Olivares v. Canac Kitchens, 2012 ONSC 284 provides a useful reminder of what to include in a damages calculation for a wrongful dismissal case.  In this case, the Plaintiff had worked for Canac Kitchens for 24 years when his employment was terminated along with many others as a result of the […]