July 20, 2015 Legal News SCC to Decide if Without Cause Dismissals Permitted under Canada Labour Code On July 9, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal in Wilson v. Atomic Energy Agency of Canada, 2015 FCA 17. In its decision, discussed in an earlier article posted here, the Federal Court of Appeal concluded…
July 20, 2015 Legal News Compassionate Care Leave Benefits Extended for Federally Regulated Employers On June 23, 2015, Bill C-59 / Economic Action Plan 2015 Act, No. 1 received Royal Assent. Among other things, the omnibus budget bill amends the Canada Labour Code and the Employment Insurance Act to extend compassionate care leave and…
June 24, 2015 Legal News Expanded Definition of Retaliation under the Human Rights Code The definition of retaliation in section 43 of the Human Rights Code was recently expanded by the Administrative Tribunal Statutes Amendment Act. Section 43 of the Code previously only offered protection against retaliation where a person had filed a complaint…
June 23, 2015 Legal News Employer Found Liable for Defaming Former Employee The British Columbia Supreme Court recently awarded a plaintiff $30,000 in connection with defamatory statements made about him by his former company’s owners. The plaintiff, John Batyka, at one point a one-third shareholder in the business, resigned from his employment…
June 16, 2015 Legal News Mental Distress Damages: Not Just for Dismissals A federal employee recently appealed a Public Service Labour Relations Board decision denying her damages for mental distress after her 10 day suspension was overturned and substituted with a verbal warning. Ms. Gatien worked in the federal public service for…
June 1, 2015 Legal News Pay Deduction for Wedges Drives One into Employment Relationship Employers may wish to take note of a recent decision of the BC Supreme Court in which a former employee successfully argued he had been constructively dismissed as a result of his employer’s decision to charge him for future equipment…