In Abbasbayli v. Fiera Fine Foods Company, the Ontario Court of Appeal recently clarified that corporate directors may be held personally liable for unpaid wages and vacation pay in a wrongful dismissal proceeding.
Background
In Abbasbayli, a former employee brought legal action after his employer terminated his employment. The former employee sued three corporations
Government benefits and guidance relating to COVID-19 are being introduced quickly and are rapidly evolving. Earlier this month, the Government of Canada amended existing legislation to extend access to certain recovery benefits and published accessibility guidelines to help employers remove barriers for persons with disabilities during the pandemic.
Extension of COVID-19 Recovery Benefits
On March
On January 12, 2021, the Government of Ontario declared a second state of emergency under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the government issued a province-wide Stay-at-Home Order and amended O. Reg. 82/20: Rules for Areas in Stage 1 (“Stage 1 Rules”) to introduce stricter lockdown measures starting January 14, 2021.
Continue Reading Ontario Declares Second State of Emergency and Announces New Public Health Restrictions
Last week, the Ontario Government amended O.Reg. 228/20 to extend deemed infectious disease emergency leave (“IDEL”) under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the “ESA“) from January 2, 2021 to July 3, 2021.
Continue Reading Deemed Infectious Disease Emergency Leave Further Extended to July 3, 2021
Last week, the federal government passed Bill C-44, Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 1 (“Bill C-44″), introducing a new administrative monetary penalty system under Part IV of the Canada Labour Code (the “Code“) and broadening the authority of inspectors, among other things.
Continue Reading Increased Inspection Powers and New Administrative Penalty System under Canada Labour Code
Last week, the Government of Canada passed the Regulations Amending the Employment Equity Regulations (the “Amended Regulations“) introducing new pay transparency measures, effective January 1, 2021. The Amended Regulations aim to clarify and improve the data gathering processes that govern the reporting of salary data by federally regulated employers with 100 or more employees.
Continue Reading Regulations Amending the Employment Equity Regulations Create Additional Salary Reporting Obligations on Federally Regulated Employers
Last week, the Ontario government passed its latest budget bill, Bill 229: Protect, Support and Recover from COVID-19 Act (Budget Measures), 2020 (“Bill 229”). Bill 229 implements initiatives contained in Ontario’s 2020 budget through amendments to existing statutes.
Amendments to key employment statutes include:
Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019:
Bill
After almost six months of school closures across Ontario due to the COVID-19 pandemic, school is now back in session for most students. The provincial government’s education model includes a voluntary back-to-school regime that provides parents and students with the option to engage in online learning from home or to have children physically attend at school. With recent cases of COVID-19 on the rise this fall, outlined below is a summary of what employers should be aware of regarding their obligations to accommodate employees with children that are not attending in-person school or childcare.[1]
Continue Reading Back to School: An Employer’s Obligations to its Parental Employees
On March 23, 2020, both Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Quebec Premier François Legault announced a major development in the management of the COVID-19 crisis in each of their provinces: the immediate shut down of all non-essential services , effective Tuesday March 24, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. EST. The Ontario shutdown is for at least two weeks, while Quebec’s shutdown is for at least three weeks.
Continue Reading Ontario and Quebec Order Non-Essential Business Shutdowns
Claims alleging the misclassification of workers as independent contractors rather than employees are widespread. Properly classifying a worker’s status is critical because it determines substantive legal rights. In addition to independent contractors and employees, in Canada, there is a hybrid category — dependent contractors. To be classified as a dependent contractor, the contractor must be “economically dependent” on a particular client. Dependent contractor status may be found even where a worker conducts business through a corporation and hires employees to assist in the performance of the work.
In a significant decision, Canadian Union of Postal Workers v. Foodora Inc., the Ontario Labour Relations Board (the Board) held that couriers delivering food on behalf of Foodora Inc., an app based food delivery company, were dependent contractors under the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (the Act) and thus have the right to unionize under the Act. This is one of the first decisions commenting on the status of workers in the gig economy.
Continue Reading Decision Delivers Dependent Contractor Status to Foodora Workers
