Labour and Employment Law Blog

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 ...