“Virtual court”, or remote hearings by telephone, video, and communication platforms may have been adopted in response to crisis, but the merits of such technology could open the door to more cost-effective and timely access to justice in the post-pandemic future.
What do employment contracts and termination letters have in common? They both have the potential to end, or at least limit, an employer’s liability in the event of a termination. However, to be effective, they must be properly drafted. A termination letter that fails to assert just cause for termination, and specify the reasons for […]
Canadian companies doing business with partners based in the EU – and where personal data collection, use and/or disclosure could take place – cannot lose sight of the impact the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) may have on their operations, especially when it comes to the cost of non-compliance.
There are good ways to govern, and not so good ways. Here are 10 steps that, if followed, will produce better outcomes for Municipal Council and Committee meetings.
Nova Scotia recently became the eighth province to onboard the federal government’s COVID-19 exposure notification application. Public health officials believe that if it is widely used across Canada, COVID Alert has the potential to provide an efficient way of tracing the virus. However, the introduction of this tracking technology into the national COVID-19 response presents new privacy issues for Canadians to consider.
Conventional wisdom holds that municipal consolidations facilitate economic growth and provide better services in a larger municipal unit. After the recent experience in Nova Scotia, we believe this to be true, but also recognize that securing the benefits will take both hard work and objective measurement.
The long-awaited decision of the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal in Strom v Saskatchewan Registered Nurses’ Association, 2020 SKCA 112, was recently released. The decision considers when and if members of a professional association can be sanctioned by their professional association for comments made on social media, as well as whether a professional association can infringe on a member’s Charter-protected freedom of speech in sanctioning members for off-duty conduct.
Is an employee entitled to incentive compensation as part of their “reasonable notice” damages when terminated from employment? That is often the $1 million (or even $10,000) question. Background It is well established at common law that an employee who is terminated without cause is entitled to be provided with reasonable advance notice and, failing […]
In the Supreme Court of Canada’s most recent family law decision, Michel v. Graydon, 2020 SCC 24, the Court settles a long-standing question about whether child support can be recalculated retroactively once a child has reached adulthood. The short answer is that child support is the right of the child and, with that fundamental tenant […]
“With the combination of serious public health and economic impacts caused by COVID-19, employers are finding themselves facing unprecedented challenges”. The article Employer’s Challenges and Obligations during the COVID-19 Outbreak, written by Halifax Partner Geoff Breen & Halifax Associate Drew Ritchie, was published in the Spring 2020 edition of the Canadian Bar Association’s Nova Voce. Click here to read the full […]