Quebec has recently passed a controversial bill that has left many employers operating in the province wondering how this will affect them. Bill 96 – An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Quebec – will mean the following for Quebec businesses (this is a summary of major changes): Businesses will be required...
With the Ontario Provincial Election just around the corner, now is a good time to start thinking about your obligations as an employer to provide your employees with time off work to vote. Eligible voters who are 18 years of age or older and registered to vote are entitled to three consecutive hours off work...
As the deadline for employers to have a Disconnecting from Work Policy created and issued to employees is fast-approaching (June 2, 2022), we wanted to take a moment to remind you to be sure you are currently working towards implementing this policy, if you haven’t already. By way of reminder, you will need to have...
As you may be aware from our recent e2r™ Alert, a recent change to the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) requires employers with 25 or more employees on January 1 of any year have a written policy in place with respect to electronic monitoring of employees. Since our last Alert, we confirm that employers...
The Ontario government’s second Working For Workers Act, 2022 was passed on April 7, 2022 and will take effect on the later of July 1, 2022 or the date the legislation receives Royal Assent. The Working For Workers Act, 2022 creates the Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act, 2022 (“DPWR”) and makes amendments to the Employment...
Recently, in Reotech Construction Ltd. v. Snider (2022), British Columbia’s Supreme Court reversed a trial court decision that declined to deduct the employee’s Canada Emergency Response Benefit (“CERB”) payments from their wrongful dismissal damages. In this case, the employee was laid off at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic and received approximately $9,000.00 in CERB...
What is the new law? The Working for Workers Act, 2021 (the “Act”) amended the Employment Standards Act, 2000 in Ontario on December 2, 2021. Among other things, it prohibited Ontario employers from entering into an employment agreement or other agreement with an employee that is, or that includes, a non-compete agreement. This also applies...
The Ontario government recently announced that they would put forward another employee-protection based piece of legislation (Bill 27 recently provided a mandate to employers regarding the right to disconnect). With the dramatic increase in employees working remotely (usually from home, but sometimes from cottages, other provinces and even other countries) some employers have acquired or...
At long last, the Ontario government has provided further information on their newly required Disconnecting from Work policy. As a reminder, late last year the government passed Bill 27, The Working for Workers Act, which included several amendments to the ESA that we noted in a previous Alert found here. But one of the most...
While a “snow day” means something very specific to Canadian children (an unexpected day off school!) – it can mean something very different to employers and their employees. Is an Ontario employer required to pay its employees for the day, or at least comply with the “three-hour rule” if they are unable to provide work...