In Parmar v Tribe Management, a BC Supreme Court judge had to consider whether a mandatory vaccination policy was reasonable. This is the first decision in BC where a judge decided this question in a non-union setting. Facts The plaintiff, Ms. Parmar, was an accounting professional. The employer, Tribe Management, provided condominium management services. Its ...
In a recent decision of Hussey v. Bell Mobility Inc., 2022 FCA 95, the Federal Court of Appeal confirmed that there are two options for adjudicators when assessing damages in lieu of reinstatement in the context of unjust dismissal complaints. For context, federally regulated employees are protected by the Canada Labour Code (the “Code”), instead ...
In the recent Nelson v. Goodberry Restaurant Group Ltd. dba Buono Osteria and others, 2021 BCHRT 137 case, the BC Human Rights Tribunal (“Tribunal”) considered a complaint by an employee who asked to be addressed by “they/them” pronouns. The employee, Jessie Nelson, was a non-binary person who used they/them pronouns. Jessie worked at a ...
The BC Supreme Court recently confirmed the test for family status discrimination in the case of Gibraltar Mines Ltd. v Harvey, 2022 BCSC 385. Ms. Harvey and her husband were employed by Gibraltar Mines Ltd. near Williams Lake. They worked the same 12‐hour shifts. After she gave birth to her first child, Ms. Harvey and her ...
In Shalagin v Mercer Celgar Limited Partnership, 2022 BCSC 112 the court considered an allegation of cause that arose after termination. Specifically, the terminated employee was a Certified Professional Accountant employed by the defendant for 10 years. The employee was terminated on a without cause basis and provided payment based on the Employment Standards ...
I previously posted on the blog about the new vaccine mandate for all regulated healthcare workers in private practice in BC. You can read that February 10th post here. The details of the new PHO order had not yet been announced at the time of my February 10th post, but the PHO announcement suggested ...
In Ontario, you cannot have a non-competition clause with employees except in very narrow circumstances. On February 2, 2022, we posted about one part of the Working for Workers Act (“Act”) that came into force in Ontario in December 2021. The Act requires employers to create a policy about the employee’s right to disconnect. You ...
On February 16, 2022, Dr. Henry updated her earlier Order regarding workplace health and safety. Employers are no longer required to allow employees to work from home. Specifically, the earlier Order said: “An employer must allow workers to work from their private residence, if possible, given the nature of the work involved, unless the employer ...
In a new decision this year (2022 BCHRT 22), the BC Human Rights Tribunal dismissed another complaint made by a person refusing to wear a mask. The customer attended at the business in October 2020 for an appointment and spoke with a screening employee at the front door. The screener asked the customer to wear ...
