Category: Northern Exposure

Employment law articles for U.S. companies with employees in Canada. Written by the attorneys at Fasken Martineau law firm.

Court of Appeal Agrees with $25,000 Award for Loss of Apprenticeship

By Derek Knoechel As we reported in an article last year, courts across the country are generally following the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Keays v. Honda Canada: Punitive damages should be awarded only in exceptional cases, and moral damages should be limited to actual losses resulting from the employer’s conduct. That has left […]

Advertising Requirements Before Hiring Foreign Worker

By Gilda Villaran In our January 4, 2010, article titled Obtaining a Work Permit in Canada: The Labour Market Opinion Process, we explained that in order to get a work permit for a foreign worker, an employer in Canada generally must first obtain a Labour Market Opinion (LMO) from the Department of Human Resources and […]

Employee Awarded $500,000 for Bad Faith Termination

By Donna Gallant As we reported four weeks ago (Shocking Arbitration Decision in Ontario), a prominent Canadian arbitrator recently ordered the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) to pay more than $500,000 in damages, finding that it failed to take reasonable steps to ascertain the truth about an employee’s medical condition and fired her for sick […]

Ensuring the Ongoing Strength of Canada’s Retirement Income System

By Lyne Duhaime There are lots of recent activities in the pension field at the federal level in Canada. The government’s actions in the past 12 months constitute the most important reform of federal pension laws since the 1980s. Here’s a quick overview. It started on January 9, 2009, when the government of Canada released […]

Do Age-Based Early Retirement Programs Violate Human Rights Code?

By Ralph Nero and Ida Martin Are pension plans that provide age-based early retirement programs discriminatory? In a decision that may be important across Canada, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal has recently answered no. In Kovacs v. Arcelor Mittal Montreal, Kovacs argued that he had been discriminated against on the basis of his age by […]

Prehiring Credit Checks Restricted in Alberta

By Lorene Novakowski Employers are often tasked with creating systems to reduce employee theft or fraud. Such systems can include many things including credit checks on potential employees. Recently, Mark’s Work Wearhouse in Alberta was stunned to learn that such credit checks weren’t permissible in the circumstances — even when a number of other measures […]

Shocking Arbitration Decision in Ontario

By Donna Gallant The latest price tag for terminating an employee based on inadequate investigation and preconceived notions of guilt is $500,000. In a searing decision, an Ontario arbitrator found that the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) failed to take reasonable steps to ascertain the truth about an employee’s medical condition before it fired her […]

Happy Headhunting for Employers

By Gulu Punia Successful headhunting can add significant value. But employers must be careful that they don’t become the hunted. As with any hunt, there are risks that may not be obvious. In the employment context, a Canadian employer may be on the hook for extended severance or risk an action from the previous employer […]

Employee Fired for Disseminating Inappropriate E-mail at Work

By Alix Herber While many employees are allowed to access and use the Internet and e-mail on company computers for “limited” personal use, it’s not uncommon for them to misuse this privilege. In Poliquin v. Devon Canada Corporation, the Alberta Court of Appeal was asked whether an employee could be fired for cause because he […]

Religious Accommodation Versus Gender Equality

By Dominique Launay In the province of Quebec, a woman was asked to leave two different French classes in Montreal. The woman, a recent immigrant from Egypt, refused to remove her face cover. After being allowed to sit at the front of the class (so all men were behind her) and make presentations with her […]