On May 12, 2022, the Ontario Court of Appeal released its long-awaited decision in a case concerning whether an Ontario regulation precludes an employee who was laid off during the pandemic from claiming constructive dismissal at common law.
In a recent decision, the British Columbia Court of Appeal upheld a determination that three taxi drivers were employees and not independent contractors for purposes of the province’s Employment Standards Act.
The Ontario general election will take place on June 2, 2022. Under Ontario’s Election Act, every employee who is qualified to vote is entitled to three consecutive hours to vote while the polls are open.
On April 22, 2022, Ontario announced that it is maintaining the existing provincial masking requirements in select higher-risk indoor settings, as well as other current directives, until June 11, 2022.
Since late fall 2021, we have seen a steady flow of arbitration awards emerge in Ontario and British Columbia that consider issues relating to mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies in the unionized workplace.
An arbitrator recently decided that the mandatory vaccination policy of BC Hydro was reasonably necessary to justify the significant intrusion on its employees’ bodily integrity and medical privacy - but the policy's discipline aspect was unreasonable.
Bill 10, the Labour Relations Code Amendment Act, 2022, introduced on April 6, 2022, would make significant amendments to British Columbia’s Labour Relations Code.