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Employment Law

  • Image: "Vaccine with a possible cure for Coronavirus and Planet Earth" by focusonmore.com is licensed under CC BY 2.0
A few weeks ago, we wrote about vaccines and work. About one week after that, on April 1, 2021, the government of B.C. announced amendments to B.C.’s Employment Standards Act to include a job-protected leave to allow employees time away from...

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  • Image: "clock" by fsse8info is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
So you’re one of many who has been dismissed or are otherwise out of a job. Has covid-19 changed your deadline for filling a civil claim for a wrongful dismissal action?    Maybe. It depends on when you were dismissed. If your claim...

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  • Image: "Doctor in protective suit and face mask holding syringe" by focusonmore.com is licensed under CC BY 2.0
The media informs us of increasing numbers of Canadians who are receiving COVID-19 vaccines. Others are not yet eligible or decline to do so.   There are no indications that these vaccines will be mandatory. Can an employer require its employees to receive...

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  • Image: "Royal Throne" by D-Stanley is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Any resemblance in this article to real persons, dead or alive, or other real-life entities, past or present, is purely coincidental. Once upon a time, there was a royal family. The ruler of the Kingdom was a King. He had three sons,...

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  • Image: "Study" by Tim Swinson | http://timswinson.com is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Clearly, some members of society are being left behind amid responses to  corona virus. Women, the disabled and the impoverished are particularly affected. Between March and June, schools in B.C. and Alberta abruptly closed. Alberta’s government is closing middle and high schools again...

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  • Image: Banana peeled by richard_north. This image was marked with a CC BY 2.0 license.
My son recently came home with a joke, “What did the banana say to the judge?” First, let’s look at a 2015 Supreme Court of Canada constructive dismissal decision. In Potter v. New Brunswick Legal Aid Services Commission, the Supreme Court...

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  • Image: "The Bait" by nist6dh is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
The Supreme Court of Canada, in a recent unanimous decision in Matthews v. Ocean Nutrition Canada Limited, restored an award exceeding $1 million to a constructively dismissed employee. In so doing, the Court affirmed that it remains: … resolute in asserting that...

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  • Image: "Job search" by slightly everything is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Recently, in Dubois v. Milne, the B.C. Court of Appeal considered a claim for an oppression remedy in the wrongful dismissal context. The oppression remedy is a powerful way of addressing misconduct that has harmed a “shareholder.” Section 227(2) of the Business...

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Alberta’s government recently enacted substantial amendments to Alberta’s Employment Standards Code (ESC), through the Restoring Balance in Alberta’s Workplaces Act, 2020.   The stated purpose was to “save employers time and money.” Section 63 of the ESC now deems layoffs over 90...

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  • Image: "Ping Pong Balls" by Peter Alfred Hess is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Alberta’s workplace legislation is starting to resemble a ping pong ball. After the NDP formed the Alberta government in 2013, it amended Alberta's workplace legislation, including Employment Standards Code and Labour Relations Code, to include  provisions consistent with those in other...

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