The Right to Purreavement Leave in Ontario

Should employees be allowed to use their Personal Emergency Leave (Employment Standards Act, 2000, section 50) to be absent from work in order to mourn the loss of a family pet? That is to say, should workers in Ontario be entitled to take so called “purreavement leave”?

For some the question will be ridiculous. To others, the answer “no” would be equally outrageous.

The question is not completely hypothetical either. According to a CBC news’ report, Quebec labour tribunal sides with employer in cat-bereavement spat, “A Quebec labour tribunal has sided with an employer who refused a woman's request to work from home on the day her cat died.”

That story got me thinking: Can workers in Ontario use their Personal Emergency Leave to mourn the loss of a family pet? If not, should they?

Family Caregiver Leave in Ontario

How much time off is an employee entitled to in order to look after a sick family member?

However, both employers and employees must be mindful of the fact that while Personal Emergency Leave was expanded as a result of Bill 148, and then removed as a result of Bill 47, there are several other forms of protected leave including:

• Pregnancy Leave [sections 46 – 47 of the ESA]
• Parental Leave [sections 48 - 49]
• Family Medical Leave [section 49.1]
• Organ Donor Leave [section 49.2]
• Family Caregiver Leave [section 49.3]
• Critical Illness Leave [section 49.4]
• Child Death Leave [section 49.5]
• Crime-Related Child Disappearance Leave [section 49.6]
• Domestic or Sexual Violence Leave [section 49.7]
• Emergency Leave, Declared Emergencies [section 50.1]
• Reservist Leave [section 50.2]

Holidays on Sunday

When is “Canada Day”? How about “New Year’s Day” or “Christmas”? Like all good legal questions, the answer, it would appear, is “it depends.”

Pursuant to subsection 1(1) of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 the following days are designated as “public holidays”, to which certain rights and obligations apply:

1. New Year’s Day.
2. Family Day, being the third Monday in February.
3. Good Friday.
4. Victoria Day.
5. Canada Day.
6. Labour Day.
7. Thanksgiving Day.
8. Christmas Day.
9. December 26.

Of those, the only calendar days that one could derive with any certainty (and without knowledge of what those days mean) are "Family Day" and December 26.

So when is “Canada Day” anyway?

Agreement to Provide Greater of Set Amount and ESA Minimums Legally Binding: ONCA

You know what’s fun? Trying to make sense of whether the court is going to give effect to a contractual termination clause. And, in the case of Amberber v. IBM Canada Ltd., 2018 ONCA 571, the Court of Appeal for Ontario was once again asked to do just that.

As set out by Justice Douglas K. Gray, sitting ad hoc, put it in the court’s introductory words to its reasons for decision:

The issue in this case is the enforceability of a termination clause in a written contract of employment. On a motion for summary judgment brought by the employer, Justice Hebner [Justice Pamela L. Hebner of the Superior Court of Justice] held that the termination clause was ambiguous, and did not clearly set out an intention to deprive the respondent of his entitlement to damages at common law. She held the clause to be unenforceable and dismissed the motion.

The employer, IBM, was successful on appeal.

Employers’ Vicarious Liability for Sexual Assault

“Is a taxi company liable for a sexual assault allegedly committed by one of its drivers, absent any fault on its part?” That was the question that the Court of Appeal for Ontario answered in the case of Ivic v. Lakovic, 2017 ONCA 446.

The court’s answer, which affirmed an answer from the Ontario Superior Court, was “no”.

Unfettered Right to Terminate Contract Must be Exercised in Good Faith: ONCA

If one party to a contract has the “facially unfettered right to terminate the contract”, must that party exercise its right to terminate the contract only in good faith?

In the case of Mohamed v. Information Systems Architects Inc., 2018 ONCA 428, Ontario’s top court answered that question with a “yes” – the unfettered right must be exercised in good faith.

Termination of Employment Does Not Terminate Ability to Apply for LTD Benefits

Consider this scenario: An employee is covered for long-term disability (LTD) benefits under his employer’s group policy of insurance. He sustains a head injury, but does not immediately appreciate the seriousness of the same. Three years later he quits the job that provided LTD coverage. Two years after that, he makes application for LTD benefits under his former employer’s policy. Is he still covered?

If you said “of course not”, you would be wrong. In the case of MacIvor v. Pitney Bowes, 2018 ONCA 381, Ontario’s top court ruled that the employee was not only eligible to make application for such benefits, the insurance company was required to respond and pay.