Can a worker waive his right to compensation for a workplace injury?
In Fleming v. Massey, 2016 ONCA 70, the Court of Appeal for Ontario held that based on the wording of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997, S.O. 1997, c. 16, Sch. A, the purpose for which workers compensation laws were created, and public policy considerations, workers cannot waive or release their employers from liability for damages caused by a workplace accident.
Are public school teachers protected from unreasonable search and seizure by section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms if the search and seizure is performed in the workplace by their employers?
As stated by the Court of Appeal for Ontario in the case of Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario v. York Region District School Board, 2022 ONCA 476, “There is no doubt that they are.”
The law concerning the rights and responsibilities of Ontario’s employers to dismiss an employee “for cause” , and the rights of employee to nonetheless receive statutory termination pay and severance pay in event of a termination “for cause” finally received such much-needed clarity in the Court of Appeal of Ontario’s decision in Render v. ThyssenKrupp Elevator (Canada) Limited, 2022 ONCA 310 (CanLII).
While both the facts of the case and the depth of the Court of Appeal’s analysis on the critical point have caused some commenters to challenge the correctness of the court’s ultimate decision, I could not be more ecstatic about the methodology of the court’s approach.
The question of how much time one has within which to start a civil claim for unpaid wages, including unpaid overtime is actually more complicated than it sounds.
In Fresco v. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, 2022 ONCA 115 (CanLII), the Court of Appeal for Ontario refused to allow an employer’s appeal in a proposed class action case on the basis that the applicable limitation period had expired.
The basis for the court’s decision was the application of the “reliance on superior knowledge and expertise” doctrine to the question of when an employee ought to reasonably have known that, having regard to the nature of the injury, loss or damage, a proceeding would be an appropriate means to seek to remedy it.
Allow me to explain.
What is the effect of section 67.2 of the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000, which generally prohibits entering into non-compete agreements after October 25, 2021, on non-competition agreements entered into before October 25, 2021?
In Parekh et al v. Schecter et al, 2022 ONSC 302, Justice Mohan D. Sharma of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice held that the Working for Workers Act, 2021, S.O. 2021, c. 35, pursuant to which section 67.2 was enabled, does not apply retrospectivity- meaning that agreements entered into before the law’s coming into force remain in full force and effect.
