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Serious insight for serious situations.

Serious insight for serious situations.

Employment insurance changes create new conditions for claimants

Employment Insurance (“EI”) benefits have provided temporary financial assistance to unemployed Canadians for decades. For most claimants, benefits are 55% of their weekly average insurable earnings, to a maximum of $485 per week. On January 6, 2013, several amendments affecting the availability of EI benefits came into effect. These amendments allow the government to differentiate

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A virtual horror story: Improperly sent email proves costly for employer

With the frequent use of email in the workplace, it is not surprising that the occasional embarrassing message has been sent to the wrong user. A recent decision of the Divisional Court, however, should caution all employers that an inadvertent email may not only be embarrassing but can also have significant legal consequences. In Fernandes

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Corporate director fined and sentenced to prison term for failure to pay wages

A recent decision of the Ontario Court of Justice shows that a company’s failure to abide by the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”) can result in serious penalties for its directors. In that regard, the Court imposed a $280,000 penalty on six Ontario companies and the director of those companies, and also sentenced the director

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Coroner makes recommendations to improve occupational health and safety in construction industry

The Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario has recently made recommendations to the Chief Prevention Officer and the Ministry of Labour relating to improved safety for workers in the construction industry. In the Verdict of the Coroner’s Jury regarding the Inquest into the death of Mark Pagavathsing, dated September 21, 2012 (2012 CanLII 66789),

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On seeing an employment lawyer for the first time: Thoughts from two Toronto employment lawyers

We recently sat down to discuss what employee clients can do both before and during their first meeting with us to contribute to the exchange being successful. These are the clients who seek our advice in terms of a possible wrongful dismissal, a sexual harassment complaint, helping them respond to an offer of employment, or

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Lessons from Lance

I’ve been following the news reports over the last few weeks covering the story of disgraced cyclist, Lance Armstrong.I’m struck by several things: (1) that Lance continues to admit no wrongdoing, despite mounting evidence of his participation in doping; and (2) the distinctions that are being drawn between sports personalities like Tiger Woods and Kobe

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Ontario jury awards former Walmart employee $1.46 million for constructive dismissal

Setting a new “high-water mark” for damages in constructive dismissal cases in Ontario, a jury in Windsor, Ontario has awarded a former Walmart employee $1.46 million in damages, after finding that she was constructively dismissed. In delivering its verdict on October 10, 2012, the jury concluded that the employee had suffered abusive treatment, including mental

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Employee information and social media part two: What about mitigation efforts?

In the last month, two personal injury cases have crossed my desk that have left me wondering how aggressively employers and their lawyers will or should incorporate social media searches to examine a terminated employee’s mitigation efforts.Perhaps this is already happening. In both cases, the social media profiles of plaintiffs who claimed they were injured

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