Canada

In the recent decision the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal awarded an applicant 14 months’ lost wages and $15,000 damages for injury to the applicant’s dignity, feelings, and self-respect.

The Supreme Court of Canada recently released its decision on random alcohol testing in the workplace in Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, Local 30 v. Irving Pulp & Paper, Ltd., 2013 SCC 34.

A discussion on the R v. Technologies Inc. 2012 ABQB 549, as the Alberta Court of Appeal recently heard the arguments.

Employers are advised to not only develop and implement robust workplace harassment policies, but also to develop and implement effective progressive discipline procedures.

Outsourcing and cloud computing service engagements are fraught with financial, security and other risks, especially if dealing with an unproven service provider.

In a recent decision decision, the Supreme Court of Canada signaled for the first time that employers in safety-sensitive work environments may be justified in implementing random alcohol testing.

Organizations and employees alike should take note of the long awaited ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada in Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, Local 30 v. Irving Pulp & Paper, Limited, which was recently released.

Two recent Court of Appeal decisions, one from B.C. and one from Alberta, have dealt a blow to individuals trying to get compensation for stress.

Most occupational health and safety statutes across Canada contain provisions that prohibit employer reprisals for workplace health and safety matters.

This case is indicative of the current trend for increased fines, regardless of whether the accident results in death, particularly where the organization blatantly disregards its health and safety obligations under the Act and the principals of the organization are not, in the Court's view, sufficiently repentant.

More than one year has passed since the federal government introduced important amendments to Part III of the "Canada Labour Code".

The Quebec Court of Appeal has rejected a motion for leave to appeal a Superior Court ruling that had allowed a motion for judicial review quashing a decision of the Commission des relations du travail (CRT).

Madam Justice Beth Allen of the Superior Court of Justice decided that a bus driver was not required to intervene to stop a fight between two bus passengers and dismissed a negligence suit against the driver.

A discussion on the topics at the Federated Press Pension Law & Litigation Conference.

A recent decision of the Quebec Superior affirmed that an employer could defer the granting of pay increments to unionized employees.

A year ago in this space we examined amendments made to the Occupiers Liability Act that limited the exposure of government and other parties responsible for resource roads to civil liability related third party use of resource roads.

On December 6, 2012, the Marois government introduced Bill 14 on the future of French in Quebec (Bill).

An employee was entitled to refuse to submit to a reasonable-suspicion drug test where a supervisor smelled marijuana in the employee’s truck.

The decision makes it clear that a former employee cannot be forced to work where he prefers not to work, but when is seeking damages from his former employer he has a duty to mitigate.

An employer's internal e-mails showed that a "professional standards investigation" conducted on an employee was actually a retaliation for the employee's work refusal, an adjudicator has held, finding a violation of the Canada Labour Code.