The Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act (“OHSA”) requires provincially-regulated employers to have in place (and review annually) a written policy addressing workplace harassment. The OHSA defines ‘workplace harassment’ as “engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct against a worker in a workplace that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome.” To further protect workers from harassment, section 32.0.7(1) of the OHSA also requires that employers: investigate allegations of harassment (in a manner appropriate to the circumstances); and inform the complainan ..read more

We are not yet at the halfway point of 2024. Despite this, both Queen’s Park and Parliament Hill have already been quite busy creating new rules that will apply to employers with operations in Ontario. In this article, we highlight a few of the major changes announced in the Working for Workers Five Act, 2024 and the 2024 Federal Budget and summarize how these may impact your organization. Working for Workers Five Act, 2024 (Bill 190) Since coming to power in 2018, the Progressive Conservative government has taken to tinkering with the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”) and other related ..read more

The purpose of severance is to bridge the gap while a person is unemployed and looking for a new job. As we often tell clients, severance is not intended to provide a windfall. When a person is dismissed from a job, they have an obligation to make reasonable efforts to offset the losses stemming from their dismissal (referred to as the “duty to mitigate”). In the right circumstances, this may include accepting an alternate offer of employment with the same employer or pursuing a reasonable opportunity that has been brought to their attention. The key is that workers are expected to act reason ..read more

In a short decision, the Court of Appeal for Ontario has recently clarified an important question regarding fixed-term employment contracts. Namely, whether a fixed-term itself can be considered a type of termination clause. The answer matters, as in accordance with the Court of Appeal’s earlier decision in Waksdale v. Swegon North America Inc., 2020 ONCA 391, the effect of any illegality in a termination provision (no matter where situated) has the result of rendering all termination clauses in an employment contract unenforceable. We have warned time and again on this blog about the danger ..read more

“Time theft” describes situations where an employee is paid for time they knowingly misrepresent as having been worked. Time theft may take many different forms. It could include longer-than-scheduled breaks, misrepresenting or altering records (such as timecards), or completing personal matters on paid company time. It received renewed attention during the pandemic as more employees worked remotely. Where an employer becomes aware that an employee is engaging in time theft, there are several options that may be available: Terminate the relationship for cause Time theft may, in the right circ ..read more

2024 got off to a bang in the world of employment law. In a recent trial level decision, an Ontario judge has found yet another termination clause illegal and unenforceable. In so doing, the court accepted an entirely novel argument for why termination provisions may be read as impermissibly contracting out of the mandatory requirements of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the “ESA”). The case at issue is Dufault v. The Corporation of the Township of Ignace, 2024 ONSC 1029 (“Dufault”). It concerned a Youth Engagement Coordinator who was dismissed on a without cause basis after roughly 1 yea ..read more

Much of employment law centres on wrongful dismissal litigation. Wrongful dismissal arises when an employer has terminated the employment relationship and failed to provide sufficient advance notice or pay-in-lieu to the affected employee. Less well known is the corollary of wrongful dismissal: wrongful resignation. Just as employers are obligated to give notice prior to terminating the employment relationship, so too are workers. The amount of notice that employees must provide in advance of their resignation varies. As a starting point, look to any written employment agreement. If this docu ..read more

Hiring processes can be competitive – particularly in a slow market where eligible candidates may outnumber available opportunities. While applicants may look to present their experience or qualifications in the most favourable light (whether on a CV or in the course of an interview), there is a significant difference between positive spin and blatant dishonesty. A 2022 decision from the Quebec Court of Appeal serves as a useful reminder of the importance of honesty and good faith during a hiring process. In the case in question, an individual successfully applied to work for Quebec’s provinc ..read more

Among the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic was an increased normalization of virtual meetings. I can count on one hand the number of Zoom or Teams meetings I attended before March 2020. In 2023, by contrast, virtual meetings are an almost everyday occurrence. It is thus unsurprising to see more and more employers opt to hold employee dismissal meetings virtually, rather than in-person. My standard advice, pre-pandemic, was that termination meetings should be held in-person whenever possible. The reasoning was simple: dismissal meetings are important events, wherein employees sho ..read more

When parties to a workplace dispute agree on a settlement, one typical term required by employers relates to confidentiality. Such clauses mandate that the employee refrain from telling third parties details of the deal that has been reached (with normal exceptions made for immediate family and professional advisers). Confidentiality goes hand in hand with another common settlement term - an explicit denial of wrongdoing or liability. The combined effect of such clauses in settlement agreements are: 1) they help prevent unrelated persons from using the details of any particular settlement to ..read more