Labour and Employment Law Blog

A recent decision from the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) found that searching an employee’s work laptop may be an unreasonable interference with privacy rights under section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (“Charter”).^[1]

Section 8 of the Charter protects against unreasonable search and seizure. While “search and seizure” is a concept ...

Litigation takes time and money. Effective legal counsel use various processes available to help clients achieve the best outcome in each case. 

Summary trials are an important procedural option in litigation.  In many cases, they can provide an efficient and quicker means to obtain a judgment.  In January 2024, Alberta’s old summary trial process was replaced with a ...

Online platforms that offer ride-hailing and delivery services have become increasingly popular in recent years. Starting in September, companies that offer such services will be required to provide workers in British Columbia with certain minimum employment standards and workers’ compensation coverage. This is the first legislation of its kind in Canada.

On June 20, 2024, the Budget Implementation Act received Royal Assent. The Act amended a number of federal statutes, including the Canada Labour Code (the “Code”), which applies to federally regulated employers such as airlines and banks. Most relevant are the changes regarding presumption of employee status and disconnecting from work.

Presumption of Employee ...

In the recent decision of British Columbia v Taylor, 2024 BCCA 44, the BC Court of Appeal found that the duty of good faith is a developing area of law in the employment context and courts should permit plaintiffs to bring novel claims in this area.

In this case the plaintiff, Ms. Taylor, claimed that she was wrongfully dismissed from her employment with the Province of British ...

In a recent decision, Société des casinos du Québec inc. v. Association des cadres de la Société des casinos du Québec, the Supreme Court of Canada determined that the exclusion of managers from the definition of employee in the Quebec Labour Code (the “Code”) did not violate section 2(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the “Charter”) or ...

Employers often rely on probationary periods when dismissing new employees who are not a good “fit” for their organization. But can probationary employees be dismissed for any reason? A recent decision from the BC Human Rights Tribunal provides a valuable reminder that human rights obligations apply to all employees, including probationary employees.

Facts

The ...

It is not uncommon, but frustrating for employers, when an employee who is off work for an alleged illness provides no doctor’s note or a doctor’s note that simply says something like “Patient needs to be off work for a month”. The employee then assumes that they are entitled to have the time off with no further questions asked. Sometimes their doctors think this too.  ...

In the recent decision of Lefebvre v Gisborne Holdings Ltd., 2023 BCSC 2231, the BC Supreme Court (The Court) found that Gisborne Holdings Ltd. (the Employer) did not have cause to dismiss a fixed-term contract employee and awarded $81,100 CAD in damages.

Ms. Lefebvre, the dismissed employee, was hired under a fixed-term contract to replace an employee on parental leave ...

On November 9, 2023 the Minister of Labour introduced legislation to ban the use of replacement workers by federally regulated employers during labour disputes. A replacement worker is a person who does the work of a unionized worker who is on strike or locked out.

Currently, Part I of the Canada Labour Code only prohibits employers from using replacement workers if they are ...