Labour and Employment Law Blog

In today’s Supreme Court of Canada decision in British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal and Schrenk, a split court held that British Columbia’s Human Rights Code provides protection to employees from the discriminatory conduct of persons unrelated to their own employer, provided that the discriminatory conduct arose in their employment setting.

The facts of the case ...

The decision of Mr. Justice Paul Belzil in the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench granting an interim injunction to block Suncor’s random drug testing policy has now been released. The Court applied the three part test for an injunction: there is a serious issue to be tried, there will be irreparable harm if the injunction is not granted, and the balance of convenience favours ...

Mr. Justice Paul Belzil in the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench has granted Unifor an injunction blocking Suncor’s random drug testing policy for its oilsands facilities in northeastern Alberta.  

We will update this with further information once the decision is reported.

[This legislation has now been amended or replaced. Please see our subsequent blog post here.]

Bill 148, The Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017 received Royal Assent on November 27, 2017. This legislation would include significant amendments to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the “ESA”), the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Labour Relations Act.  ...

On November 8, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia (“OIPC”) issued an investigation report regarding the use of employee video surveillance in the workplace (the “Investigation Report”).  The Investigation Report provides important insight for employers with respect to the intersection of privacy rights and video ...

On June 22, 2017, Bill C-44, the Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No.1 received Royal Assent. The Act makes a number of changes to the Canada Labour Code (the “Code”) that will impact federally regulated employers, both unionized and non-unionized.

A date has not yet been set for when the changes will come into force.

This blog post provides a high level overview of the ...

In Stewart v. Elk Valley Coal Corp., 2017 SCC 30, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a decision of the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal which found that the termination of an employee in a safety-sensitive environment who tested positive for cocaine after a workplace accident did not constitute unlawful discrimination.

Important takeaways from the decision include that:

On June 7, 2017, Bill 17, the Fair and Family-Friendly Workplaces Act, received Royal Assent. The Act makes significant amendments to the Alberta Employment Standards Code (the “ESC”) and Labour Relations Code (the “LRC”).  The changes will affect all provincially-regulated employers in the Province of Alberta, both unionized and non-unionized. A summary of ...

The Ontario Superior Court recently confirmed in Papp v. Stokes et al., 2017 ONSC 2357 that an employer will not be held liable for defamation when it provides a truthful reference about a former employee. It is, however, important to note that:

• an employer should be careful to ensure that the information provided is accurate and must not act with malice in providing a ...

In a recent decision, Styles v. Alberta Investment Management Corporation, 2017 ABCA 1, the Alberta Court of Appeal reversed a 2015 judgement of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench that had recognized a common law duty requiring employers to reasonably exercise their discretionary contractual powers in relation to their employees. The Court of Appeal found that such a ...