Labour and Employment Law Blog

On April 5, 2023, Labour Minister Harry Bains announced that the minimum wage will be increasing in B.C. from $15.65 to $16.75 on June 1, 2023.

The new minimum wage will increase by 6.9%, which is based on B.C.’s average annual inflation rate in 2022.

The 6.9% increase will also apply to wages for residential workers, live-in home support workers and camp leaders. In ...

Generally speaking, when an employee is dismissed without cause, they are entitled to notice or pay in lieu of notice as set out in the British Columbia Employment Standards Act (“ESA”). However, there are certain exceptions to this rule. One such exception is where the employee is offered and refuses reasonable alternative employment by their employer.

Legislative ...

On January 1, 2023, an amendment to the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”) came into force that creates a new exemption for business and information technology (IT) consultants.^[1] This means that if an individual meets the criteria for a “business consultant” or “information technology consultant” under the ESA, then the consultant is ...

We often assist employers in defending claims by managers who allege that the employer failed to pay overtime. In this blog post, we explore some of the common pitfalls we see in such cases.

Many employers assume that managers are never entitled to additional pay for any additional hours worked, and that the manager’s wage or salary is their entire entitlement to ...

Twenty years ago, a really entertaining movie came out called “Catch Me if You Can”, which featured Leonardo DiCaprio as a con artist who found work as a doctor, lawyer, and pilot by forging his credentials.

That film highlighted how far charm and confidence can get someone in the hiring process. Recently, we had our own version in British Columbia where a woman worked as a ...

This blog post is a follow-up to our two-part blog post and webinar discussing sweeping changes to Alberta's workers' compensation and occupational health and safety legislation. At that time, it was unknown when the new Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act ("new OHSA") and revised regulations would come into force.

The Alberta Government has announced that the new ...

On October 25, 2021, Ontario introduced Bill 27, Working for Workers Act, 2021, and on November 3, 2021 it received its second reading. If passed, the proposed Bill will amend Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) to prohibit non-compete clauses in employment agreements and require organizations with over 25 employees to implement “disconnecting from ...

This blog post is a follow-up to our previous two-part blog post (Part 1, Part 2) and webinar discussing sweeping changes to Alberta's workers' compensation and occupational health and safety legislation. At the time of the webinar, it was unknown when precisely the new Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act ("new OHSA") would come into force.

Earlier this week, the ...

This is the second installment of a two-part blog discussing sweeping changes to Alberta's workers' compensation and occupational health and safety legislation. Be sure to check out our previous post, which summarized significant amendments to the Alberta Workers' Compensation Act.

In this installment, we are highlighting five major changes to the occupational ...

As we all know by now, the U.S. Capitol was stormed by a mob of President Trump’s supporters on Wednesday January 6, 2021. A great deal of the mob, as well as police officers who appeared to stand aside as rioters streamed inside, were captured on video and replayed repeatedly over the news. This includes two Canadian nurses who allegedly travelled to Washington D.C. to ...