Written by: Matthew K. LeBlanc What happens when a company terminates someone who is both an employee and a shareholder? In Kirke v Spartan Controls Ltd, 2025 ABCA 40 (“Spartan Controls”), the Alberta Court of Appeal reiterated the distinction between a person’s employment rights and their shareholder rights, and held that the payments owed upon […]
The duty to accommodate an employee with childcare responsibilities is not unlimited. The recent decision of Aguele v. Family Options Inc., 2024 HRTO 991[1] from the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (“HRTO”) provides some insight for employers responding to requests for schedule changes from employees with childcare responsibilities. Case Summary: The employer provided housing and […]
Introduction Artificial intelligence holds the promise of delivering new waves of efficiency and productivity in the workplace, but it also carries risk for employers who don’t mitigate operational, reputational, and legal risks associated with unauthorized use. Generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot are free tools at the fingertips of employees. […]
A recent decision from western Canada gives employers confidence that circumstantial evidence can be relied on to justify the termination of an employee for time theft. The decision also provides support for categorizing time theft as theft in the ordinary sense of the word, for disciplinary purposes. Time theft is generally understood as the falsification […]
GM v JG, 2023 NBKB 57 Justice Danys R.X. Delaquis Subject Matter: Parenting Orders | Jurisdiction The parties have a 5-year-old child, who was born in New York. The Applicant is a Canadian citizen living in Saint John and the Respondent is an American citizen living in New York. The child has dual citizenship. The […]
For the past couple of years, our lives and legal system have been pre-occupied by the COVID-19 Pandemic and the many issues it has presented. However, there are many other decisions that have been released during this last year which may have an impact on employers. Below we have summarized what we believe are the […]
Nearly five years following the start of the #MeToo movement, courts, administrative tribunals, and arbitrators are cracking down on sexual harassment in the workplace. See also: Employers May Terminate for a Single Incident of Harassment and Employment & Labour – Top 10 Cases of 2021. In Yaschuk v Emerson Electric Canada Limited, 2022 AHRC 62, […]
In recent years, there has been an increase in the prevalence of employees secretly recording conversations in the workplace. While it is not unlawful for a conversation to be recorded when only one person is aware that the recording is being taken, the undisclosed recording of conversations can raise privacy concerns. The recent decision of […]
In every non-unionized employment relationship, the employer has an implied common law obligation to give the employee reasonable notice of its intention to terminate the employment relationship, unless there is just cause for termination. If the employer fails to give the employee reasonable notice of termination, the employer risks a wrongful dismissal action for breach […]
COVID-19 has dominated our world for the past year. It has touched every facet of our lives. It has resulted in ever-changing rules, policies and procedures being implemented that affect the way we work, shop, socialize and engage in extra-curricular activities. Employers, in particular, have been required to radically change the way things have always […]