Workplace Surveillance in Ontario
April 22, 2025 By Brian Babcock In the digital age, workplace surveillance has become increasingly common, raising important legal and ethical questions. Ontario employers often monitor employees through video surveillance, email tracking, GPS tracking, and other technological means. However, there are legal limits on how far workplace monitoring can go. Here’s what employees and employers […]
Remote Work and the Law: Are Ontario Employers Liable for Office Injuries?
April 3, 2025 By Brian Babcock The shift to remote work has transformed the employment landscape in Ontario, bringing new legal considerations for both employers and employees. One key question that has emerged is whether Ontario employers can be held liable for workplace injuries sustained by employees working from home. The answer, as with many […]
Employment Disputes: Tribunal or Litigation?
January 28, 2025 By Brian Babcock You might think that courts have wrestled with the question of whether a dispute must be submitted to arbitration or may proceed to litigation often enough that there would no longer be doubts. Kolacz v. Labourers International Union of North America Local 837 shows that judges still must wrestle […]
Why To Respond To A Human Rights Complaint
January 23, 2025 By Brian Babcock If you are named as a respondent to a human rights complaint, in order to dispute the claim, you must file a reply and participate in the process. The complaint will not simply go away. Despite this, some people imitate ostriches and stick their heads in the sand. This […]
Are Restrictive Covenants Enforceable in Ontario?
November 7, 2024 By Brian Babcock There was a lot of publicity when Ontario amended the Employment Standards Act to make certain restrictive covenants unenforceable. This has created some confusion, with people mistakenly believing that ALL restrictive covenants are unenforceable in court. To begin to understand this, we must first note that the ban only […]
Is That Non-Compete Enforceable?
October 15, 2024 By Nick Melchiorre Non-compete agreements are common in employment contracts and sales of businesses. They are not always enforceable. Public policy favours vigorous competition, to maintain a free market for goods or services. Non-compete agreements will only be enforced if the party who benefits from the agreement has a legitimate interest that […]
Weather and the Law
October 8, 2024 By Brian Babcock Weather- everybody talks about it, but no one does anything about it. In Thunder Bay weather can range from heat in the summer to extreme cold in the winter – with lots of thunderstorms, as the name implies. At Weilers LLP we cannot control the weather, but weather is […]
Vacation Pay: A Hidden Liability?
July 23, 2024 By Brian Babcock Do you pay out unused vacation pay at the end of each year? THE ISSUE If not, you may accrue a significant hidden liability over time. THE CASE For example, in Boyer v Callidus Corporation, the former vice-president of the company was unsuccessful in his claim for constructive dismissal. […]
Restrictive Covenants and Restraint of Trade
July 18, 2024 By Nick Melchiorre When is a restrictive covenant an unlawful restraint of trade? THE CASE The Ontario Court of Appeal takes a deep dive into the issue in 7868073 Canada Ltd. v. 1841978 Ontario Inc. and provides some guidance, but ultimately leaves the question open for another day. Why do they do […]
At Any Time, Judges Favour Employees
July 9, 2024 By Brian Babcock Judges seem to really dislike termination clauses, even in Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario. THE ISSUE We have written before about clauses in employment contracts which attempt to limit the amount of payment in lieu of notice of dismissal. They will very rarely be enforced. How rarely? THE CASE […]