Tag: legislation

Do Your Excess Hours and Overtime Averaging Permits Need to Be Renewed?

by Martin Denyes As Ontario employers reduce their workforces and potentially look to smaller numbers of remaining employees to take on increasing workloads, February is the time to review existing excess hours agreements and permits and overtime averaging agreements and permits. Legislation requiring permits and agreements for hours in excess of 48 in a week […]

Beware Liability When Workers Talk on Phone While Driving

by Karen Sargeant former of McCarthy Tetrault We have all heard the statistics (and it’s no surprise!) — driving while talking on a cell phone increases the likelihood of a car accident even if you use a “hands-free” set. At the same time, your employees have cell phones, iPhones, BlackBerries(R) and other personal data assistants […]

Be Prepared If an Inspector Knocks at Your Door

by Daniel Pugen of McCarthy Tetrault and Karen Sargeant formerly with McCarthy Tetrault In most Canadian provinces, occupational health and safety legislation provides for government inspections. Besides random or regular audits, workplace accidents often will prompt inspections, and especially where an accident has taken place, prosecution of the employer and managers is a potential outcome. […]

Health and Safety Legislative and Regulatory Responses

by Daniel Pugen McCarthy Tetrault Workplace violence has become a hot topic among labor, employment, and health and safety regulators in Canada. Of course, workplace violence is hardly a new phenomenon. Certain workers like police officers have an inherent risk of workplace violence. Also, put enough people in an enclosed area under stressful conditions (i.e., […]

Compassionate Care Benefits for Canadian Employees

By Donovan Plomp McCarthy Tetrault In Canada, employees are entitled to certain government-provided benefits under the federal Employment Insurance Act, including “compassionate care benefits.” The introduction of these benefits in January 2004 prompted almost all provinces and territories to introduce job-protected compassionate care leave in their respective minimum employment standards laws. Employers in Canada must […]