Is the surreptitious recording of one’s fellow employees cause for dismissal?
In Shalagin v Mercer Celgar Limited Partnership, 2022 BCSC 112 (CanLII), the Supreme Court of British Columbia held that it was. Hold the phone.
An employment law blog.
Sean Bawden, Partner, Kelly Santini LLP.
sbawden@kellysantini.com | 613.238.6321
Is the surreptitious recording of one’s fellow employees cause for dismissal?
In Shalagin v Mercer Celgar Limited Partnership, 2022 BCSC 112 (CanLII), the Supreme Court of British Columbia held that it was. Hold the phone.
What is the legal effect of a SNOW DAY?
As a child, the practical effect of a wicked snowstorm was the cancelation of school- a “snow day.” A free pass to do whatever one wanted. Un cadeau.
But, is an Ontario employer required to pay its employees for the day, or at least comply with the “three-hour rule” if it is unable to provide work for the employee because of storms or similar causes beyond the employer’s control that results in the stopping of work?
Should parties on civil appeals be permitted to file “Reply Factums” without seeking leave of the court?
In Prism Resources Inc. v. Detour Gold Corporation, 2022 ONCA 4, Justice David Brown of the Court of Appeal for Ontario expressed his strong preference that they should.
In the period September to November 2019, six complaints were filed against Ottawa City Councillor Richard Chiarelli with the Integrity Commissioner for the City of Ottawa. The Commissioner investigated and then prepared one report in respect to three of the complaints, which were similar. The Commissioner filed the Report with Ottawa City Council on July 9, 2020. City Council considered the Report on July 15, 2020, accepted its conclusions that Councillor Chiarelli had engaged in acts of misconduct in respect to the three complaints, and imposed the maximum available penalty: suspending Councillor Chiarelli’s salary for 270 days in the aggregate. City Council also adopted a resolution calling upon Councillor Chiarelli to resign from City Council.
Councillor Chiarelli applied to the Ontario Divisional Court for judicial review of the proceedings below. He argued that the Commissioner lacked jurisdiction to investigate the complaints, showed bias against him, and denied the Councillor procedural fairness. He argued that City Council exhibited bias against him. He sought various remedies, including orders quashing the findings and sanctions against him and orders prohibiting the respondents from taking further steps against him respecting the complaints.
In its decision released December 22, 2021, Chiarelli v. Ottawa (City of), 2021 ONSC 8256 (CanLII), the Divisional Court (Morawetz C.J.O.S.C.J., D.L. Corbett and Ryan Bell JJ.):
2021. Or 2020 version 2? I don’t know. 2021 was an interesting year with the pandemic absolutely a constant factor in everything we did, but also some return to normalcy.
In reviewing the decisions released this year, I was struck by how many of them actually had absolutely nothing to do with COVID. A fact that is somewhat hard to believe given its ubiquitous nature.
But, the point of this blog post is to consider what I consider to be the “Top Five Cases of Importance to Ontario Employment Law.” I have produced such a list since 2012:
Here we go…