Browse through brief employment and labor law updates from around the globe. Contact a Littler attorney for more information or view our global locations.

Download full Q4 2023 Global Guide Quarterly

Ontario: New Rules for Reservist Leaves, OSHA Violations, and Mass Terminations

New Legislation Enacted

Authors: Rhonda B. Levy, Knowledge Management Counsel, and Monty Verlint, Partner – Littler LLP

Ontario’s Working for Workers Act expands eligibility for reservist leave, providing leave to recover from a physical or mental health illness, injury or medical emergency resulting from participation in a military operation or training. The Act also reduces the eligibility period from three to two months of consecutive employment.

The Act also provides that when determining whether there has been a mass termination at an employer’s “establishment,” the “location at which the employer carries on business” includes an employee’s private residence, provided the employee performs work there and does not perform work at any other location where the employer carries on business. In addition to posting a notice of mass termination, employers now must provide notice to each affected employee.

The Act also increases the fine for corporations convicted of an offence under the OHSA from $1.5 million to $2 million. Additional details are available on Littler.com.

BC Appeal Court Finds Employee’s Sexual Harassment of Subordinate Not Sufficiently Serious to Justify His Dismissal

Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency

Authors: Rhonda B. Levy, Knowledge Management Counsel, and Monty Verlint, Partner – Littler LLP

In Café La Foret Ltd. v. Cho, 2023 BCCA 354, the British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA) upheld a lower court’s determination that an employee’s sexual harassment of a subordinate was not sufficiently serious to justify the dismissal but varied the lower court’s order to read that the $25,000 award was made exclusively for aggravated damages, not punitive damages. Additional details are available on Littler.com.

Supreme Court of Canada Confirms “Owners” of Construction Projects Are “Employers” Under OHSA

Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency

Authors: Rhonda B. Levy, Knowledge Management Counsel, and Monty Verlint, Partner – Littler LLP

In R. v. Greater Sudbury (City), 2023 SCC 28, a divided Supreme Court of Canada upheld a lower court decision finding an “owner” of a construction project can be considered an “employer” within the meaning of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA). Accordingly, the owner can be held liable, subject to a due diligence defense, for a contractor’s violations of workplace safety on a construction project site, even when it properly engages a reputable contractor to act as the project’s “constructor,” and none of its employees are involved in the construction project. Additional details are available on Littler.com.

BCCA Upholds Finding That Employee’s Surreptitious Recording of Conversations with Colleagues Justified Dismissal for Just Cause

Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency

Authors: Rhonda B. Levy, Knowledge Management Counsel, and Monty Verlint, Partner – Littler LLP

In Shalagin v. Mercer Celgar Limited Partnership, 2023 BCCA 373, the British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA) upheld the lower court’s dismissal of an employee’s wrongful dismissal claim and its finding that his surreptitious recording of conversations with his colleagues justified the termination of his employment for just cause. Additional details are available on Littler.com.

Alberta Court Holds Placing Employee on Unpaid Leave for Non-compliance with COVID Vaccination Policy Not Constructive Dismissal

Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency

Authors: Rhonda B. Levy, Knowledge Management Counsel, and Monty Verlint, Partner – Littler LLP

In Van Hee v Glenmore Inn Holdings Ltd., 2023 ABCJ 244 (Glenmore), the Alberta Court of Justice found that an employer’s mandatory vaccination policy was a reasonable, justified and lawful response to the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID pandemic, and that an employee placed on unpaid leave for failing to comply with the employer’s COVID-19 vaccination policy was not constructively dismissed. Additional details are available on Littler.com.