Special to The Globe and Mail As hybrid and work-from-home arrangements have become commonplace, workers should beware: some employers have become concerned whether remote workers are actually doing their job when they claim to be, and a recent British Columbia judgment ordering an employee to pay back wages for time theft may be a harbinger of many more similar cases to come. If an employer can demonstrate that a worker was paid for a job that was not actually performed, it can be viewed as theft of an employer’s time. Not only can this be treated as cause for dismissal without seve ..read more

Special to The Globe and Mail Eyebrows were raised recently when Elon Musk issued an ultimatum to Twitter employees that they either commit to working long hours at high intensity or leave with a few months’ severance. These workers were only given a few days to respond. This raises the question of how should employers behave when letting go workers and what penalties exist for doing so unfairly? The Supreme Court of Canada has declared there is a legal duty for employers to behave in “good faith” at the time of termination. Broadly put, employers must not be unduly insensitive or unreasonable ..read more

On December 29, 2022, the Ontario Superior Court certified a class proceeding against RBC Dominion Securities, which claims that it failed to pay vacation and public holiday pay to its financial and investment services employees, as required by employment standards legislation.  Daniel Lublin of Whitten & Lublin PC is one of lead class action lawyers representing the employees, such as investment advisors, wealth advisors, portfolio managers, Associates and Assistants, who are compensated either fully or partially based on commissions or other incent ..read more

Since he purchased Twitter, Elon Musk has been taking a hard line with employees. He has told them there will be “difficult times ahead” but has also now mandated a full-time return to the office, thus putting a remote work ban. What workforce now remains at Twitter (Musk terminated the employment of approximately half of existing employees) will likely be required to work long hours, and now fully from the office. Can Your Employer Force You to Return to the Office Full Time? This widely publicized turn of events has employees wondering: what are my rights if my employer mandates an immediate ..read more

Recently the City of Burlington re-launched a mandatory indoor mask policy for the City’s employees, effective from November 28, 2022, to January 8, 2023, throughout the winter holiday season.   Does an employer have the right to mandate mask wearing? According to the City, the decision was a result of increased employee absenteeism due to illness. With the double waves of covid-19 virus and flu virus, it is hard to say whether the public healthcare systems can sustain or not. An employer does have a duty to maintain workplace health and safety, pursuant to Ontario’s Occupational Hea ..read more

Why C-Level Executives Should Always Have an Employment Lawyer Review Their Severance Package For C-level executives, severance pay usually consists of a wide range of components, including but not limited to salary, bonuses, equity, employee stock options, restricted shares, group benefits, pension contributions, and reimbursement of certain expenses.  Generally speaking, Canadian companies tend to be more generous than their American counterparts regarding severance pay for C-level executives. It is common to see Canadian firms offer departing executives a month of severance pay for eac ..read more

Workers may well know the recently passed Ontario legislation (Bill 27: Working for Workers Act, 2021) that generally prohibits non-compete clauses in employment agreements. However, this prohibition has exceptions, and the law does not forbid non-solicitation provisions. Departing employees may think twice before taking clients from their former employers.   Exceptions to the Prohibition on Non-Compete Clauses There are two exceptions to the prohibition of non-compete clauses: It does not apply to an employee who sold or leased the business to the employer, and immediately became an emp ..read more

The Toronto Transit Commission (“TTC”) has decided to drop its COVID-19 vaccine mandate that has been in place for approximately one year. In September 2021, the TTC introduced a vaccination policy that required all employees to become vaccinated against COVID-19 to continue with their active employment. Now, the TTC has deemed that the policy is not necessary and has both dropped their vaccine policy and has indicated that terminated employees may be offered reinstatement to their positions. However, terminated employees are not going to be offered backpay stemming from the income lost betwee ..read more

Amazon is planning to lay off approximately 10,000 workers who hold corporate and/or technology jobs, which would represent the largest workforce reduction in the company’s history. Reports suggest that the devices, retail and human resources divisions at Amazon are most likely to be impacted by the job cuts. Amazon’s upcoming mass layoffs are the latest following a series of similar moves by other tech giants such as Meta (Facebook’s parent company) and Twitter. Under Ontario law, a mass layoff occurs when 50 or more employees are terminated within a four-week time period. Employees terminate ..read more

Many people are probably confused about the recent twist during the recent CUPE strike – the Ontario government just announced that it would revoke the controversial back-to-work legislation, Bill 28. Shortly after, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) claimed their members would end the strike and return to work the next day.  Working parents’ right to work may be affected if schools close again One major group that cannot be ignored in this incident is the parents whose kids are affected by repetitive school closures with short notice. Even if CUPE and the government temporaril ..read more