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Wrongful dismissal

  • 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: "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: "Door of a bankrupt business locked with chain and padlock. Global recession due to coronavirus lockdown" by Ivan Radic is licensed under CC BY 2.0
It’s an understatement to say the economy is currently bleak.   Anyone with employment is hanging onto it for dear life. Dismissed employees who are looking for new work face a formidable task. People are told to “stay home”. Many businesses have effectively...

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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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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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Many employees off work amid COVID-19 are wondering about their rights. Employers who have curtailed operations are wondering what liabilities may be lurking if upon resuming normal operations they return some but not all employees to work. When Can Employers Lay off...

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  • Photo: courtesy of pexels, Nathan Cowley
Sometimes tensions rise in the workplace and someone storms out the door in the heat of the moment. Other times, an employee repeatedly fails to show up for work, without providing an explanation. Or, an employer makes the workplace so intolerable for...

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  • Photo: "Valentine (36)" by M.aryam is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
A noticeable number of people have met their soul mate at work. Some may say there can never be enough love in this world. Becoming romantically involved with someone you work with is not illegal. However, some workplace relationships are inherently problematic. This...

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