Beyond providing fair severance, one of the best things an employer can do to help a dismissed employee is to offer assistance in finding a new job. This assistance could include outplacement support, speaking with industry contacts and/or offering to provide references to prospective employers, if required.
In the recent decision of Covenoho v. Pendylum Ltd., the Ontario Court of Appeal awarded a former employee of Pendylum 40 weeks' pay ($56,000.00), overturning the ruling of the Motion Judge at summary judgment.
Q&A is a recurring series on the Vey Willetts LLP blog. The aim is to provide quick answers to questions we commonly encounter in our day-to-day practice of employment law. In this edition we focus on employee sick leave and medical information.
Recently, Lloyd’s of London implemented a ban on employee drinking between the hours of 9am and 5pm on work days. Traditionally, the “boozy lunch” had been a big part of Lloyd’s culture. It was the preferred vehicle to seal deals and woo clients. As such, the change in policy came as a shock to the 800 employees impacted by the ban, and it was met with open hostility.
Vey Willetts lawyer Paul Willetts was quoted in the March 6, 2017 edition of The Lawyer's Daily in an article entitled "Big changes could be on Way for Ontario workplace landscape." The article discusses the provincial government's Changing Workplaces Review and some of the changes employees and employers in Ontario may expect to see.
The capacity to send and receive email on smart phone devices and laptops has fundamentally altered the working lives of many. The notion of the ‘9 to 5’ job has, in many industries, become a thing of the past. Our use of email has profoundly altered how and when we work: it has blurred the distinction between work and home lives; it has altered our view of what is appropriate communication and our expectation of how quickly people should respond. In many ways, it has simultaneously increased the volume of workplace communications and dramatically accelerated the pace at which it occurs.
The authority to make laws in Canada is split between the federal and provincial governments. Generally speaking, the employment relationship of most Ontario workers is subject to provincial laws such as the Employment Standards Act. A limited number of Ontario employees, however, work in industries over which the federal government has jurisdiction, and consequently sets the law. The federal equivalent of the Employment Standards Act is the Canada Labour Code. Federal jurisdiction applies to many Ontario workers employed in the following industries:
