26 Months Awarded to Long Service Employee

19. August 2021 0
Earlier this year, our team blogged about a Saskatchewan court decision (Hetherington) which considered whether an earlier period of employment with the same employer counted for severance purposes.  In the case of Currie v Nylene Canada Inc., 2021 ONSC 1922, the Ontario Supreme Court considered a “break in service” argument, but in different circumstances.  Significantly, ...

Communication is Key if an Employee is Absent Without Leave

18. August 2021 0
In the case of Wong v Polynova Industries Inc., 2021 BCSC 603, the BC Supreme Court confirmed that a voluntary resignation by an employee requires an unequivocal act to repudiate the employment contract, and the employer must take steps to accept this repudiation. Facts Mr. Wong was an employee of Polynova Industries Ltd. for 15 ...

Interim Order 8 Impacts Severance Payments on Terminations After September 27, 2020

The Federal government has released an Interim Order 8 under the Employment Insurance Act (“Act”).  It should have an effect on severance payments made to employees who were terminated after September 2020.  In ordinary circumstances, if a terminated employee is receiving Employment Insurance and then receives a severance payment, the employee will have to make ...

Courts Continue to Carefully Consider the Legal Effect of Temporary Layoffs, Even Where an Employee Initially Agreed to It

On June 29, 2021, I wrote a blog post about the decision in Hogan v 1187938 BC Ltd., 2021 BCSC 1021, where the BC Supreme Court confirmed that an employee’s receipt of Canada Emergency Response Benefit (“CERB”) payments after termination should be deducted from an award of damages for wrongful dismissal. That decision was released ...

BC Employees Receive 3 hours Paid Time for Vaccination

On April 28, the BC government announced that it was making it easier for individuals to get vaccinated by amending the Employment Standards Act.  The Act now requires employers to provide up to 3 hours of paid time off for employees to get vaccinated. This change is retroactive to April 19, 2021. Employers can ask ...