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 ...
Chung v Quay Pacific Property Management Ltd, 2020 BCSC 174 A recent decision from the BC Supreme Court, Chung v Quay Pacific Property Management Ltd, 2020 BCSC 174, shows that a short service employee (2 years of service) can receive a significant notice period (9 months) on termination without cause. FACTS The claimant was ...
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 employee Costello brought a summary trial application for constructive dismissal on the basis that the employer ITB Marine Group Ltd. (“ITB”) breached its contract with her in three ways: 1) Removing all or substantially all of her duties; 2) Creating an unsafe working environment, including moving her to a new premises that was objectively ...
A recent decision from the British Columbia Provincial Court, Zaranski v JR Canada Restaurant Group Ltd, 2020 BCPC 49, illustrates that an employer must not dismiss an employee for dishonesty before thoroughly investigating the allegations. FACTS The claimant worked as a Financial Controller for the defendant from May 1, 2017 through to June 27, 2017. ...
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 ...
Although the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (“CERB”) ended on October 3, 2020, many Canadians still find themselves in need of financial assistance due to the impact of COVID-19. As a result, changes have been implemented to make Employment Insurance (“EI”) benefits more accessible. These changes are anticipated to be in effect for one year starting ...
On September 18th, Dr. Henry ordered that all nightclubs cease operating, and imposed new restrictions on restaurants and other similar businesses serving alcohol. This raises significant considerations for the owners, including how to manage their existing employees. One of the considerations for employers is whether they can rely on the doctrine of frustration (or the ...
When preparing employment agreements or considering applicable rules for topics like overtime pay, vacation pay, or termination pay, the first question is to determine if the workplace or the employees are protected by the Employment Standards Act in BC. This generally involves two different inquiries. First, one must consider whether the business is federally regulated ...
This post is an update to our earlier post in April regarding the creation of the BC Human Rights Commission- check it out here. On August 4, 2020, multiple legislative changes to the Human Rights Code, RSBC 1996, c 210 (the “Code”), as well as the Human Right’s Commissioner’s Inquiry Regulation received royal assent. These ...
