Supreme Court Did Not Say The Word “Woman” Is Confusing

A recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada has been mischaracterized as a comment from Canada’s highest court about the use of the phrase “a woman.” In fact, the Supreme Court was just commenting on a technical point of clarity in the trial judge's legal writing. The court was not commenting upon the appropriateness of gendered language in speech.

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Supreme Court of Canada Will Not Hear Appeal of Important Wrongful Dismissal Case

Canada's highest court won’t hear a further appeal of the Ontario Court of Appeal’s June 6, 2020 Waksdale decision which profoundly impacted the landscape of employment law for both employees and employers. Waksdale's impact will now continue for the foreseeable future.

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Employee Must Name Names of Other Whistleblowers in Law Suit About Toxic Work Environment

Employees in a toxic work environment will sometimes share information with each other in confidence while avoiding a formal complaint to the employer out of fear of reprisal. But in a law suit, an employee may have to reveal names to the employer.

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Wrongful Dismissal Pay is Reduced by All New Income, Even From a Low-Pay Job Taken in Desperation

Many lawyers and judges appear to have misread the Court of Appeal's 2017 decision in Brake v. PJ-M2R Restaurant Inc., 2017 ONCA 402 (CanLII), citing the case for a legal proposition which it never actually establishes.

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Terminated Employees Are Entitled to Pro-Rated Bonuses for Their Entire Notice Period

Terminated employees are entitled to receive a pro-rated bonus payment even when the bonus payout day falls outside their notice period. Only clear and unambiguous contractual language can alter or remove this common law right.

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"Substantially More Than a Majority" of a Dependent Contractor's Income Must Come from One Client

Non-employee workers may be categorized as "dependent contractors" when they are "economically dependent" on a client. But this economic dependence must represent "substantially more than a majority" of the contractor's income.

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Employers Can Insist on New Contracts When Employees Retract Resignation

When an employer permits an employee to retract a previously-accepted resignation, the employer can insist upon modified terms to the employment contract as a condition of continued employment, even where there has been no interruption of work.

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What is a Record of Employment?

Don't let the name scare you. A Record of Employment isn't a centralized document accessible to employers detailing your past work performance or discipline history. It's just the name of a form used by Service Canada to assess your entitlement to Employment Insurance Benefits.

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Human Rights Code Employment Protections Can Still Apply to Non-Employees

Human rights prohibitions against discrimination "with respect to employment" can extend to consultants, contractors, or other non-employee workers.

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Pay Equity Rights in Ontario

Ontario has three legal regimes which address gender wage discrimination: human rights laws against workplace discrimination, employment standards for "equal pay for equal work," and pay equity legislation for "equal pay for work of equal value."

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Can an Employer Force an Employee to Bank Vacation Time?

Yes, but with some restrictions. Ontario employers can direct when employees take vacation, but employment standards legislation requires employers to at least let employees take their minimum vacation entitlement within ten months of it accruing.

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What is "Wrongful Dismissal?"

For that matter, what is "unjust dismissal" or "constructive dismissal?" This article provides some brief definitions for these and other bits of employment law legalese.

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Employer Rehires Supervisor Who Sexually Assaulted Employee

An Ontario employee was ordered to pay her former employer's legal fees after she made a "substantially unsuccessful" bid to sue her employer following its decision to rehire "her abuser," a former supervisor fired ten years earlier amidst sexual harassment complaints.

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