Refusal to Work

13. November 2020 0
With the ongoing surge in COVID 19 cases employers need to be aware of their obligations. The recent Public Health Order which is in place from November 7 to 23, has imposed specific obligations on employers.  Specifically, the order requires that: Employers must review their COVID-19 Safety Plans to ensure that they adequately protect workers ...

Why It’s Important to Put It in Writing

26. October 2020 0
Many employers and businesses fail to put employment and contractor agreements in writing. They do this for a variety of reasons ranging from they don’t know how to draft the agreement to they don’t want to do it because they have a more informal workplace and they like it that way. Some businesses don’t want ...

How will the courts factor COVID-19 into determining severance?

16. October 2020 0
The well-established factors that must be taken into consideration when assessing the amount of notice that a without cause terminated employee is entitled to include: age of the employee; nature of the employment; length of the employment; and availability of similar employment having regard to the experience, training and qualification of the employee. It is ...

The Pitfalls of Incentive Plans Supreme Court of Canada – Ruling in Matthews v. Ocean Nutrition Canada Inc.

13. October 2020 0
The Supreme Court of Canada provided its reasons today in Matthews, finding that a constructively dismissed employee was entitled to payment under an incentive plan, despite clear wording in the plan that excluded entitlement. Mr. Matthews was one of the original employees of Ocean Nutrition. His compensation included a significant change of control payment, although ...

Changes to Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)

On July 17 the federal government announced proposed changes to the CEWS to be effective from July 5, 2020.  The CEWS was implemented to help protect jobs by helping businesses keep employees on the pay roll.  It also encouraged employers to re-hire workers who had been previously laid off.  According to the government, since its ...

Extension of Emergency Wage Subsidy through 2020

The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy was one of a suite of measures the Canadian government implemented to assist and support Canadian businesses that had been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the wage subsidy was to enable businesses to rehire workers previously laid off as a result of COVID19, help prevent further job ...

When a Temporary Lay off is no longer Temporary

Many employers have laid off employees in response to the pandemic. Workplaces have been closed, operations restricted and companies have suffered significant financial consequences. For many workplaces, that led to laying off employees on a temporary basis, with the intent to re employ their work force once the pandemic situation allowed it.  However, under the British ...

Extension of CERB

Yesterday Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the extension of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) for a further 8 weeks, extending entitlement to a period of 24 weeks.  Eligible applicants can now receive a maximum of $12,000 for the 24 week period, with a payment of $500 per week.  The CERB was introduced to provide ...