With the legalization of marijuana looming on the horizon this summer, concerned employers are thinking about how to keep drugs out of the workplace. While random workplace drug testing might seem like an attractive option, in Canada the law remains unsettled on what’s permitted. The most prominent legal battle over random drug testing in Canada
Pay Transparency Act Passes
In March, we blogged about Ontario’s Bill 203 the Pay Transparency Act, 2018. On April 26, 2018, the Bill passed on third reading. The Pay Transparency Act, 2018 (the Act) will come into force on January 1, 2019.
The purpose of the Act is to promote gender equality and equal compensation between men and women
Tax Treatment of Wrongful Dismissal Awards
Taxes change how much money ends up in our pockets and this truism also applies to wrongful dismissal awards. The way settlement money is lawfully characterized can have a big impact on how much goes to taxes and how much an individual gets to keep. In this post we will summarize the basic tax treatment
Equal Pay for Equal Work Now in Force
On April 1, 2018 Equal Pay for Equal Work, the new section 42 of the Employment Standards Act (ESA) came into force. This was a Bill 148 amendment. You can read more about the big changes Bill 148 has made to the Ontario employment landscape in our previous posts on this topic.
Equal Pay for
What a Year!
SpringLaw celebrates its one year anniversary this month. We kick off year 2 with our new monthly newsletter that we hope will be a useful, quick read to keep you updated on Canadian workplace law.
Our clients and colleagues have been such an important part of our journey. It’s been a year of thinking through
Employee Benefits: Government Health Insurance and Employer Benefit Plans
Benefits are always a hot topic in employment law. My 2012 post on benefits during the notice period remains my most read post.
On January 1, 2018 the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) introduced Children and Youth Pharmacare, drug coverage for children and youth, who are otherwise covered by OHIP and aged 24 and
Bill 148 Client Questions: Personal Emergency Leave for Short Term Workers
Today we will address another in our series of Bill 148 client questions. Over the last two weeks we have tackled a question related to the new vacation entitlements and one about the entitlements of salaried workers to the Three Hour Rule. This weeks’ question addresses one of the most talked about changes in the
Bill 203: Introducing Pay Transparency
On March 6, 2018, Ontario Minister of Labour Kevin Flynn introduced Bill 203 the Pay Transparency Act, 2018. It has passed first reading and is in the process of making its way through the legislative process. While the Bill is not law yet, it would introduce several measures aimed at further closing the wage gap
Bill 148 Client Questions: The Three Hour Rule
This week we bring you another in our Bill 148 client questions series. Today we will tackle the three hour rule.” This change comes into effect on January 1, 2019, in the category of Employment Standards Act scheduling changes.
Q: Does the three hour rule apply to salaried employees?
A: It’s easy to see how
Bill 148 Client Questions: Vacation Entitlements
Bill 148 has brought significant amendments to the Ontario Employment Standards Act. Over the past couple of months SpringLaw presented a series of Bill 148 webinars to our clients. We designed this series to help our employer clients get acquainted with all the changes introduced by the Bill 148 amendments.
We covered the following topics: