Does a lawyer acting as a workplace investigator owe a duty of care to the complainant in the workplace harassment case?
In Mezikhovych v. Kokosis, 2022 ONSC 6480, Justice Howard Leibovich of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice held, on a motion for summary judgement, that they do not.
Those of us of a certain age will remember a sketch comedy television series originally inspired by Mad magazine that aired on Fox from 1995 to 2009 called “MADtv”. Among the recurring sketches on MADtv was a segment called “Lowered Expectations”, which spoofed dating videos.
The title “Lowered Expectations” poses a relevant employment law question: Does a dismissed employee have a legal duty to mitigate her damages by searching for a lesser paying job after a reasonable period of time has passed looking for a more comparable position?
Just as it is true that no one should have to lower their expectations in looking for love, in Lake v. La Presse, 2022 ONCA 742 (CanLII), the Court of Appeal for Ontario (van Rensburg, Pardu and Copeland JJ.A.) held that a motion judge had erred in principle when she accepted that, in mitigation, after a reasonable period of attempting to find similar employment, a dismissed employee must begin searching for a lesser paying job.
Sorry if you now have the theme song stuck in your head.
Can the court rely on wage surveys to impute income to someone who has refused to provide evidence of his actual earnings?
In Lewis v. Willis, 2022 ONCJ 421 (CanLII), a family law decision of Justice Stanley B. Sherr of the Ontario Court of Justice held that it could.
The case may have implications in employment law cases, where dismissed employees fail or refuse to provide evidence of their mitigation income.
What is the effect of the termination of a secondment agreement if an employee expressly remains an employee of his original employer?
In Nader v. University Health Network, 2022 ONSC 447 (CanLII), the dismissed employee attempted to argue that the effect of the termination of both his secondment agreement and his employment was that he was entitled to wrongful dismissal damages from both the entity to which he had been seconded and his original employer.
Justice William Black of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice disagreed.
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.
