Sometimes Termination Clauses Are Effective
November 21, 2021 By Brian Babcock We have written extensively warning employers about relying upon the terms of a termination clause in an employment contract. Judges feel a need to protect employees who are vulnerable and have limited bargaining power when it comes to the terms of a contract. Often, an employee eager to take […]
Is working notice a good idea?
August 30, 2021 By Brian Babcock Sometimes, when a non-union employee is terminated without cause, the employer tries to gain value for the amounts payable to the departing employee by giving working notice. Whether or not this is a good idea depends upon all of the circumstances. If the departure is amicable, the employee is […]
Courts Continue to Favour Employees after Termination
August 30, 2021 By Brian Babcock We have written often about how Ontario courts tend to favour employees in wrongful dismissal law suits. Often, these cases involve the validity of a clause that attempts to limit payments sue on dismissal to less than required by law. Perretta v. A Rand Technology Corporation illustrates a somewhat different […]
Enforceability of Arbitration Clauses in Employment Agreements
August 16, 2021 By Brian Babcock It may be that not all arbitration clauses in employment contracts are unenforceable. The Supreme Court of Canada decision in Uber Technologies v Heller has attracted a lot of attention for declaring that the particular arbitration clause in the Uber agreement was invalid because it was unconscionable. At a […]
Punitive Damages and Workplace Injuries
August 6, 2021 By Brian Babcock Punitive damages might not be as limited as suggested by our recent articles on the subject. The Ontario Court of Appeal decision in Eynon v. Simplicity Air Ltd. is a useful reminder that each case turns on is own facts, and the facts of that case are startling. Outrageous […]
Accommodation in Scheduling and Family Status
July 26, 2021 By Brian Babcock The duty to accommodate exists to make equality in employment truly equal. It is a violation of the Ontario Human Rights Code to fail to take proper steps to assess an employee’s Code-related needs. A common issue in workplaces that receives little attention in cases is the difficulty that […]
Municipal Liability as Employer Under OHSA
July 14, 2021 By Brian Babcock Owners, constructors, employers, supervisors and workers all have different roles and responsibilities under the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA). The more hats you wear, the more potential there is for liability. What might surprise some municipal leaders is the extent of a municipality’s exposure as an employer. […]
Will your insurance deliver?
July 5, 2021 By Brian Babcock Are you driving your own vehicle to do deliveries or other work? If so, you need to inform your automobile insurer of that fact, or you may find yourself without coverage following an accident. In the emerging “gig economy”, this well established concept of insurance law will have application […]
Employment Contracts and the Duty to Mitigate
June 22, 2021 By Brian Babcock Failing to deal with the obligation to mitigate damages in an employment contract may result in a windfall to an employee. In Barry Gula v. Freed Developments Ltd. the employee signed a written contract of employment for an indefinite term. The contract provided a formula to calculate the employee’s […]
Employers: Do Not Imitate the Ostrich
June 15, 2021 By Brian Babcock Discrimination can affect anyone. A recent Ontario Human Rights Tribunal decision involving a cardiac surgeon illustrates this, while making the more general point that employers have a duty to investigate complaints, independent of the merits of the complaint. After all, how does the employer know if they have a […]