The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) has published some practical tips for employers regarding privacy in the workplace. These tips are quoted from the OPC website: Although the federal legislation does not apply to all BC employers, these suggestions are still helpful for all employers to consider. There are other helpful ...
In Stevens v Port Coquitlam (City), 2022 BCCA 2090, the Supreme Court of BC had to consider whether the employer City had just cause for termination. The employee (Mr. Stevens) was first employed by the City for roughly seven years as a unionized employee. In early 2018, he was seen washing his personal truck ...
In Khangura v Lumberwest Building Supplies Inc., 2023 BCSC 1053, the Supreme Court of BC had to consider whether an employee was terminated without cause, or voluntarily resigned from his employment. There were three emails from the employer to the employee at issue. The first email set out several concerns with the employee’s work ...
This is an update to our blog post on May 8, 2023. The Pay Transparency Act (the Act) in BC was passed on May 11, 2023. Here is a link to our previous post summarizing the proposed new Act. Some parts of the Act come into force this year. For instance, starting on November 1, ...
On March 9, 2023, the BC government passed legislation to make September 30th a statutory holiday. This makes National Day for Truth and Reconciliation a provincial holiday in BC. Previously it was only a statutory holiday for federally regulated employees in BC, and some provincially regulated employers in BC chose to recognize it. This holiday ...
On June 1, 2023, the minimum wage in BC will increase from $15.65 to $16.75 per hour. This 6.9% increase was based on the inflation rate for 2022. In 2022, the increase to the wage rate was only 2.8%. The increase to the minimum wage is confirmed in the Employment Standards Regulation (pursuant to the ...
In Forbes v. Glenmore Printing Ltd., 2023 BCSC 25, the Supreme Court of BC had to consider the validity of a termination clause in an employment contract. In this case, the terminated employee was arguing that the termination clause was invalid and therefore he was entitled to reasonable notice at common law. The employee argued ...
In March 2023, BC introduced proposed legislation titled the “Pay Transparency Act”. The legislation is not yet passed, but if passed it would impose several requirements on employers in BC. First, the Act will require employers to disclose salary or wages for publicly advertised job opportunities. Second, the Act will prohibit employers from taking action ...
In my blog post on April 26, 2022, I summarized a BC Supreme Court decision in the case of Gibralter Mines – view that post here. The BC Court of Appeal has now overturned that decision and therefore lowered the threshold for proving family status discrimination in employment in BC. Facts Ms. Harvey and her ...