Invasion Of Seclusion
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]March 6, 2012 By Brad Smith On January 18, 2012 the Ontario Court of Appeal broke new legal ground in the case of Jones v. Tsige: it created the tort of invasion of seclusion. It is a common law right to damages for invasion of privacy. There are three elements that must be proven. First, there has to be […]
Employee Records: New Developments In Defamation
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]November 16, 2010 By Brian Babcock Words are not just the lawyer’s stock in trade – they are the building blocks of any legal dispute. Every document in an employee’s file is a source where a disappointed employee or former employee may find grounds for a claim for damages. Sometimes, the old adage “the less said […]
Bill 168 – The Occupational Health And Safety Amendment Act
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]December 15, 2009 On December 15, 2009 Bill 168, the Occupational Health and Safety Amendment Act (Violence and Harassment in the Workplace) received Royal Assent. Bill 168 will be in effect on June 15, 2010. Bill 168 amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act to address workplace harassment and workplace violence (including a threat to exercise physical force). This […]
Bullying And Harassment In The Workplace
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]July 6, 2007 Employers are required to create and maintain a safe workplace where employees are treated fairly with civility, decency and respect. Do you have the right policies in place? Courts are awarding significant damage awards to employees who have been bullied and harassed in the workplace. Employers must take effective steps to address […]
Accommodating Disabled Employees : How Much Hardship Is “Undue” Hardship?
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]July 5, 2007 How much hardship is “undue” hardship? The Supreme Court said that Employers continue to have an obligation to accommodate a disabled employee to the point of undue hardship. For employers trying to accommodate disabled employees, trying to define “undue” hardship is like trying to solve a rubik’s cube – the landscape just […]
Employment Insurance: Should The Employer Participate Or Not?
January 27, 2006 In a recent judgement, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has applied the doctrine of issue estoppel to preclude an employer from defending a wrongful dismissal claim on the basis of just cause, where the employer raised the same defence in an Employment Insurance appeal, and lost. As a result of Korenberg v. […]
Disabled Employees Are Entitled To Severance Payments
November 29, 2005 Until recently it has been standard practice in Ontario for employers not to pay Severance Pay when a disabled employee was terminated because his or her disability made it impossible to do the job. In a decision dated May 4, 2005 the Ontario Court of Appeal concluded that employers are now required […]
Employees Entitled To Family Medical Leave
October 13, 2005 Recent amendments to the Canada Labour Code , the Ontario Employment Standards Act and the Employment Insurance Act provide employees with up to eight (8) weeks of leave from their employment and up to six (6) weeks of employment insurance benefits. The leave allows workers to be temporarily absent from work to provide care or support to a […]