Tag: Canada

Surprising pro-employer decisions on post-employment restrictive covenants

by Kyla Stott-Jess and Stefan Mirkovic Employers often place great faith in restrictive covenants to protect their assets when hiring key employees. In Canada however, noncompetition clauses have generally been very difficult to enforce outside of the context of a sale of business. Nonsolicitation clauses have also been carefully scrutinized by judges even though they […]

To enforce or not to enforce ESA-only termination clauses: That is the question!

by Sophie Arseneault Employers celebrated the January 2017 decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Cook v. Hatch upholding a termination clause that did not speak to statutory severance pay or the requirement to maintain health benefits during the statutory notice period. A month later, employers were left scratching their heads once again […]

Freedom of expression during collective bargaining: What are the limits?

by Stéphane Fillion and Laïla Tremblay In Canada, many cases have considered and limited an employer’s freedom of expression during collective bargaining. But what about the freedom of expression of the employees during that period? Is it similarly limited? In Québec (Procureure Générale) v. Commission des relations du travail, division des relations du travail (available […]

New workers’ compensation insurance rates will affect Ontario employers

by David Marchione Across Canada, workers’ compensation programs are designed to protect employees who suffer work-related injuries. These act as insurance programs administered by various agencies across all Canadian jurisdictions. These insurance regimes are collectively funded by employers who pay premiums according to a number of factors, including their payroll and history of workplace injuries […]

Seasonal employee not bound by noncompetition clause

by Matthew Larsen A British Columbia court recently explored a novel issue – whether a noncompetition clause is enforceable against a seasonal employee. Facts In See Thru Window Cleaners Inc. v. Mahood, 2016 BCSC 2134, the employer was in the seasonal business of window cleaning, gutter cleaning, and pressure cleaning. It employed most workers in […]

‘I quit … oh wait, I didn’t mean it!’

by Stefan Kimpton Employers don’t often enough think about the consequences of a heat-of-the-moment resignation. It is generally assumed that when an employee says “I quit” or storms out of the workplace, the employment relationship has come to an end and the employer owes no further obligations to the employee. Think again. As a recent […]

Ontario court awards 3 types of damages in sexual harassment case

by Hannah Roskey An employee who was repeatedly sexually harassed by her coworker sued her employer after being terminated. In addition to normal damages for wrongful dismissal she was awarded $60,000 for “moral damages” by the trial judge, plus damages for the employer’s violation of human rights laws. In Doyle v. Zochem Inc., 2017 ONCA […]

Blurred lines: Managers may have right to bargain collectively

by Valérie Gareau-Dalpé In several jurisdictions across Canada, the issue of unionization of managers and supervisors is a thorny one. In many cases, unionization is restricted to “employees,” a definition from which managers are excluded. In the province of Québec, the exclusion is based partly on the potential for conflicts of interest in having managers […]