Showing posts with label Justice Lois B. Roberts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Justice Lois B. Roberts. Show all posts

Monday 17 June 2019

Wednesday 24 January 2018

Court of Appeal Confirms that Silence is Golden

Silence is golden. According to that proverbial saying it is sometimes better to say nothing than to speak.

So what does this ancient saying, and 1964 The Four Seasons’ B-side, have to do with employment law? In short, in Nemeth v. Hatch Ltd., 2018 ONCA 7 (CanLII), the the Court of Appeal for Ontario essentially said as much when it comes to termination clauses.

Saturday 30 January 2016

Is Twenty-Six the new Twenty-Four? Taking the 'Cap' off the Limit on Reasonable Notice

Notwithstanding the popularity of the Netflix series by the same name, it remains debatable whether orange really is the new black. Also subject to debate is whether twenty-four months remains the unofficial ‘cap’ on reasonable notice.

Ever since the Court of Appeal for Ontario’s pronouncement in Lowndes v. Summit Ford Sales Ltd., 2006 CanLII 14 (ON CA) that, “Although it is true that reasonable notice of employment termination must be determined on a case-specific basis and there is no absolute upper limit or ‘cap’ on what constitutes reasonable notice, generally only exceptional circumstances will support a base notice period in excess of 24 months”, employment lawyers have debated what those “exceptional circumstances” might be.

A more recent decision from the Court of Appeal, Keenan v. Canac Kitchens Ltd., 2016 ONCA 79 affirmed an award of 26 months to a “dependant contractor.” (For more on the issue of “dependant contractors” see The Not-So-Independent Contractor.)

Is 26 the new 24? I don’t know, what I do know is that whoever said orange was the new pink was seriously disturbed.

Friday 1 January 2016

Court Censures Employer After Refusing to Reinstate Employee Following Maternity Leave and Creating Childcare Chaos

What will be the court’s censure for an employer’s unwillingness to accommodate its employees’ childcare arrangements, except where legitimate, justifiable grounds exist for being unable to do so? According to the Honourable Justice Susan E. Healey of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, no less than $20,000.

In her reasons for decision reported at Partridge v. Botony Dental Corporation, 2015 ONSC 343, affirmed on appeal 2015 ONCA 836, Justice Healey threw the proverbial book at an employer who not only falsely alleged just cause for dismissal, but also engaged in acts of reprisal and violated one of its employee’s human rights after the employee had taken maternity leave.

In another good hard look at the consequences of messing with an employee’s right to return to work following maternity leave, (see also the case of Bray v Canadian College of Massage and Hydrotherapy, 2015 CanLII 3452 (ON SCSM), a decision of the Ontario Small Claims Court, summarized by this blog in the post Ontario Small Claims Court Awards Human Rights and Punitive Damages after New Mom Constructively Dismissed,) Ontario’s judges continue to demonstrate that an employee’s right to take parental leave is pretty much sacrosanct.

Tuesday 29 December 2015

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - How the Human Rights Code is Changing Ontario Employment Law

What can the American television programme Law and Order teach us about employment law in Ontario? Not a lot, really. But the opening line from the Special Victims Unit franchise does illustrate one point, which will be of increasing focus in the coming years:

In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.

Why do I reference Law and Order SVU on an Ontario employment law blog? Because if the opening words of that show teach us anything, it is that different crimes are treated differently by the justice system. Nowhere in the Ontario employment law context is this disparate treatment more acute than with respect to the issues of workplace harassment and discrimination.

Let us compare and contrast two decisions, both from the Court of Appeal for Ontario: Piresferreira v. Ayotte, 2010 ONCA 384 (Cronk, Lang and Juriansz JJ.A.) and Partridge v. Botony Dental Corporation, 2015 ONCA 836, (Laskin, Pardu and Roberts JJ.A.)

Sunday 15 April 2012

The Benefit of Benefits

(c) istock/olm26250

An area too often overlooked in wrongful dismissal cases is that of disability benefits. Often, dismissed employees, who previously participated in group benefit plans, are informed at the time of dismissal that their short and long-term disability benefits will terminate at the end of the “statutory notice period,” typically eight weeks for long-term Ontario employees.

Employees are typically informed that this period of time is as long as the group disability insurer will permit the employee to remain on the plan. But, is that the end of the argument? “No” says Ontario law.