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In a recent blog, we observed that directors, officers and shareholders may be deemed to be “common employers” together with corporations; and that in certain circumstances, owners and operators may be “on the hook” for claims by employees and former employees. By way of another recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, director
We’re now several days into the Mike Duffy trial and the stage is set for a public examination of the expenses that Mr. Duffy claimed while he was a member of the Senate. Ultimately, it will be up to Justice Vaillancourt to decide if Mr. Duffy is guilty of a criminal offence, but this case
In a recent decision, the Divisional Court considered whether a director, officer or shareholder of a business may be a “common employer” along with the business itself. The implication of this decision is significant, particularly for individuals running closely-held corporations: if he or she is deemed to be a “common employer”, then he or she
The Ontario government video ad, #WhoWillYouHelp, which urges bystanders to intervene when witnessing sexual violence and harassment, has gone viral. The powerful ad depicts four disturbing vignettes of sexual harassment or violence where the viewer is essentially the bystander. One vignette shows a woman working at her office computer while a man gives her an
The common law in Ontario, relating to dependent contractors, is now well established. Employment relationships exist on a continuum; with the employer/employee relationship at one end of the continuum, and independent contractors at the other end. Between those two points, lies a third intermediate category of relationship, now termed “dependant contractors”. Like employees, dependant contractors
In June 2012, the Ontario legislature passed Bill 33, also known as Toby’s Act, adding the grounds of gender identity and gender expression to the Ontario Human Rights Code(“Code”). Since then, numerous other Canadian jurisdictions – i.e. the Northwest Territories, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador – also explicitly reference gender
Although there are many acceptable ways to resolve workplace conflict, assaulting a co-worker is not one of them. However, the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (the WSIAT, or the Tribunal) was faced with exactly that “conflict resolution strategy” in the recent matter of Decision No. 2140/14. In that case, the injured worker had
A Nova Scotia Human Rights Board of Inquiry recently tackled an accommodation issue in LeFrense v. IBM Canada Ltd., 2015, CanLII 1720 (NS HRC). Board Chair, Walter Thompson Q.C., found that IBM did everything within its power to assist its employee, Mr. LeFrense, in returning to the workplace and accommodating his sleep apnea in accordance
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