As most employers can attest, complaints of workplace harassment are on the rise. Complicating matters is that employees are no longer content to restrict the airing of their complaints to specialized human rights tribunals.
On November 8, 2019, Ontario’s Bill 124 - the Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019 (the “Act”) – was proclaimed in force. The Act was introduced and passed First Reading on June 5, 2019 and moved quickly through Second and Third Reading. It received Royal Assent on November 7, 2019. .
The new WSIB rate framework model takes effect on January 1, 2020. It will overhaul how most employer premiums are calculated and businesses are classified.
A Federal election will take place on Monday, October 21, 2019. The attached Briefing Note summarizes an employer’s obligation to provide an employee with time off to vote, under the Canada Elections Act.
Employers often assume receiving a notice of resignation creates a clean break in the employment relationship. However, as three recent decisions from the Court of Appeal for Ontario suggest, the fact an employee has “resigned” doesn’t always mean the employment relationship has come to an end, nor that the employer is absolved from any further liability.
Bill C-63, the Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 1, passed Third Reading in the Senate on December 13, 2017 and received Royal Assent on December 14, 2017. Bill C-86, the Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2, passed Third Reading in the Senate on December 10, 2018 and received Royal Assent on December 13, 2018.
Yesterday, the Government of Ontario announced the appointment of two special advisors to conduct a review of the province’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (“WSIB”). The WSIB is an independent agency that administers compensation and no-fault insurance for Ontario workplaces. The review is welcome news to Ontario employers covered by the WSIB and that have long considered the WSIB’s processes to be less than efficient and effective.
On April 3, 2019, Ontario’s Bill 66 - the Restoring Ontario's Competitiveness Act, 2018 – received Royal Assent. Bill 66 amends 17 pieces of legislation, including the Employment Standards Act, Labour Relations Act, Agricultural Employees Protection Act, and Pension Benefits Act. The stated intent of these amendments is to reduce red tape and the regulatory burden currently placed on employers.
Stories of workplace harassment continue to receive front page news coverage in Canada, the United States, and abroad. A December 2018 Statistics Canada study titled, “Harassment in Canadian workplaces,” found that, in 2016, 15.9% of employees reported having experienced, “verbal abuse, humiliating behaviour, threats, physical violence, and unwanted sexual attention or sexual harassment in the workplace over the past 12 months.”
On March 1, 2019 the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board implemented its new Operational Policy on Cannabis for Medical Purposes, setting strict guidelines for the use of medical cannabis as treatment for work-related illness or injury.
