May an employee who has resigned her position of employment by way of a notice of retirement later rescind her written notice of retirement? If so, under what conditions may she do so?
Those were the questions answered by the Honourable Justice Mark L. Edwards of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in English v. Manulife Financial Corporation, 2018 ONSC 5135 (CanLII)
What is a reasonable assessment of damages in a civil case of sexual assault? Is the fact that a perpetrator of sexual assault has not been criminally punished a relevant factor in the decision to award punitive damages?
In Zando v. Ali, 2018 ONCA 680 (CanLII), Ontario’s top court adopted the framework for determining damages in a civil sexual battery or assault cases described in Nova Scotia (Attorney General) v. B.M.G., 2007 NSCA 120 (CanLII), 260 N.S.R. (2d) 257, per Cromwell J.A. (as he then was), and affirmed a lower court’s award of $200,000, made up of general damages of $175,000 and punitive damages of $25,000.
Is the continued receipt of long-term disability (“LTD”) benefits evidence that one’s contract of employment has become legally “frustrated”? In the case of Roskaft v. RONA Inc., 2018 ONSC 2934 (CanLII) the Honourable Justice Andra Pollak said yes.
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?
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:
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:
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?
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.
