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By Marc Rodrigue Unionized employees in Canada can’t bring employment claims to court. This is so even where there is no longer any collective agreement in place. So ruled an Ontario court recently in Baker v. Navistar Canada Inc.
"In Canada, the government provides minimum protection to Canadians that find themselves in certain circumstances, such as when they're ill, unemployed, on maternity leave or parental leave, or even retired. However . . . government plans are often insufficient and therefore they will be supplemented by private plans that are offered by employers." Emilie Paquin-Holmested […]
By Gilda Villaran As we reported in May, Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) has been under fire in recent months. The use of the TFWP to facilitate offshoring arrangements has received much attention from the prime minister, the minister of citizenship and immigration, and the media. The immediate reaction of the government was to […]
Canada employment laws can be quite different to their counterparts in the United States. US employers with operations in Canada need to be well-versed in these differences to stay in legal compliance on both sides of the border. Here are some of the big-picture differences of which to be aware. Canada Employment Laws: Minimum Employment […]
By Julia Kennedy With each summer comes a wave of new graduates and returning students looking for ways to gain career experience. This summer, the media spotlight has been focused on the nature of unpaid internships in the United States and Canada. They are no longer limited to the not-for-profit sector. It’s probably a good […]
Doing business in Canada requires understanding how Canadian employment law differs from US. For example: Are hourly employees in Canada required to be paid overtime after 40 hours of work in a week, just like in the US? Is there paternity leave in Canada? What notice must an employer give an employee before terminating them? […]
By Clayton Jones Last week we told you about the recent decision in Irving Pulp & Paper where the Supreme Court of Canada severely limited an employer’s right to perform random alcohol and drug testing in the workplace. The implications of the Irving decision will undoubtedly be far-reaching, including on two prominent cases currently being […]
By Kyla Stott-Jess, Katie Clayton, and Hannah Roskey Canada’s highest court has ruled that random drug and alcohol testing in the workplace violates privacy rights. In Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, Local 30 v. Irving Pulp & Paper Ltd., the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) considered the validity of a random alcohol testing […]
By Marc Rodrigue Hiring a new employee can be a lengthy process, fraught with complex evaluations of skills, qualifications, and other attributes. The whole process must of course comply with applicable provincial and federal antidiscrimination laws. What people say during the process may provide evidence that a hiring decision is discriminatory. Where multiple people are […]
By Frederic Parisien Can Canadian employers use information from their employees’ Facebook pages in managing the employment relationship? Not an age-old question, but one debated in recent years. In many provinces, the answer was “yes.” But in other provinces, such as Quebec, some commentators took a more cautious approach. In a recent decision, the appeal […]