Cowling v. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Alberta, 2012 AHRC 12, offers an important lesson to employers: terminating an employee on the basis of age comes with a hefty price tag. In this case, the employee was not only reinstated, but was also awarded five years of past wages in addition to general damages of $15,000!
In Canada (Attorney General) v. Cruden, 2013 FC 520 (May 21, 2013), the complainant alleged discrimination on the basis of disability as she had been denied a posting in Afghanistan by her employer, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), due to her having type 1 diabetes.
Directors of corporations could find themselves on the hook for unpaid employee wages, vacation benefits, and administrative penalties issued against the corporation, in light of upcoming changes to the New Brunswick Employment Standards Act (the “ESA”).
The Nova Scotia Government has passed a new bill which amends the Labour Standards Code to create new unpaid leaves for parents and guardians. The Support for Parents of Critically Ill or Abducted Children Act, gives employees the right to take the following unpaid leaves:
The common law concerning probationary employees has evolved to provide greater fairness to those who are working toward becoming permanent employees. At one time a probationary employee could be dismissed without cause and without notice.
In October 2011, the National Shipbuilding Procurement Secretariat awarded Irving Shipbuilding Inc. a $25 billion contract to build combat vessels for Canada. To ensure high value-added business activity for Canadian industries, the Industrial and Regional Benefits (IRB) Policy requires companies who have won government defence and security contracts to undertake business activities in Canada equal to 100% of the contract value.
In Public Service Alliance of Canada v. Treasury Board (Canada Border Services Agency), 2013 PSLRB 46 (April 23, 2013), the employer’s practice had been to provide union officials with full-time or part-time leave with pay for them to carry out union business.
Managers who impede the accommodation of a disabled employee may attract personal liability. In May, a decision was released, Cassidy v. Emergency Health Services Commission and another (No. 5), 2013 BCHRT 116, where the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal set an interesting precedent. The Tribunal found not only the employer, British Columbia Ambulance Service (“BCAS”), liable in failing to accommodate a disabled employee, but also the manager for his role in preventing accommodations.
Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, Local 30 v. Irving Pulp & Paper Ltd., 2013 SCC 34
On June 14, 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada issued a decision that affirmed the role of alcohol testing in the workplace. The Court upheld the arbitrator’s decision which prohibited the employer’s random alcohol testing policy.
The Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia has issued a background paper entitled “Compensability of Workplace Stress” which proposes significant changes to the Policies which regulate the entitlement of employees covered by the Workers’ Compensation Act of the Province and (in the Federal sector) the Government Employees’ Compensation Act.