In Takuhikan c Procureur général du Québec, 2022 QCCA 1699, [Takuhikan], the Court of Appeal of Québec (“QCCA”) held that the governments of Canada and Québec breached their honour of the Crown obligations to a First Nation by knowingly underfunding the latter’s Indigenous police service and refusing to fund it to the same level as […]
It has been common practice in Ontario for an owner of a construction project to pass off most or all of the responsibility of following workplace health and safety requirements to a third party hired to direct the project (R v Greater Sudbury (City), 2019 ONSC 3285 [Greater Sudbury], para 34). However, the Ontario Court […]
On March 9, 2021, the Ontario Court of Appeal (“ONCA”) ruled in favour of Ontario Nurses Association (“ONA”) and Service Employees International Union (“SEIU”) Local 1 on the pay equity case Ontario Nurses’ Association v Participating Nursing Homes, 2021 ONCA 148 [ONA v PNH]. The case was a judicial review of the Pay Equity Hearings […]
In Ontario, one invalid termination clause in an employment contract will now render all of the contract’s termination provisions void.
A dismissed employee is entitled to a bonus that vests during their notice period, absent clear contractual language to the contrary.
This summer, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Uber drivers can pursue their claim that they are employees in an Ontario court. In Uber Technologies Inc v Heller, 2020 SCC 16, a majority of judges held that a mandatory arbitration clause in Uber's driver contracts was unconscionable and thus invalid. The drivers’ proposed $400 […]
The question of overlapping jurisdiction between a human rights tribunal and a labour arbitrator on a complaint of discrimination is set to reach the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”), following the granting of a leave to appeal for Northern Regional Health Authority v Manitoba Human Rights Commission, 2017 MBCA 98 [Northern Regional], last month. Background […]
Can franchisees be legally considered employees of a franchisor? Prior to Modern Cleaning Concept v Comité Paritaire, 2019 SCC 28 [Modern Cleaning], we may have thought this possibility would be precluded by the business-to-business quality inherent to a franchise. However, in Modern Cleaning, the Supreme Court of Canada (“Court” or “SCC”) interprets Québec legislation to […]
Courts have forever grappled with defining the legal scope of liability between various parties in society. The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC” or the “Court”) released a decision in West Fraser Mills Ltd v BC (Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal), 2018 SCC 22 [West Fraser], which upheld a claim of workers compensation against a non-employer.
