In this blog, we provide some practical tips and tricks on effectively managing the unionized workforce and relationships.
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An Important Legal Update on Naloxone Kits in the Workplace
By June 1, 2023, employers need to determine whether they must provide naloxone kits in the workplace & meet certain minimum requirements.
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No At-Will Employment in Canada
Are you an employer with operations in both Canada & the US? This post is for you.
Contracts vs At-Will Employment
For our US readers, Canada does not have at-will employment. In Canada, employment relationships are governed by employment contracts, either written or implied, and various employment laws and regulations. Employers are generally required to provide reasonable notice or pay in lieu of notice when terminating an employee without cause.
For our Canadian readers, at-will employment is a term used in the United States to describe the employment relationship between an employer and an employee, where either party can terminate the employment at any time, with or without cause, and with or without notice. This means that an employer can fire an employee for any reason or no reason at all, as long as it is not for an illegal reason (such as discrimination). Similarly, an employee can quit their job at any time without providing a reason or notice.
Softer Landings Save Time, Effort and Legal Fees for Employers and Employees
Mapping out the termination process and employee entitlements in advance will reduce the sting of terminations for both sides.
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Free Webinar: Complex Employee Statuses
Join SpringLaw’s Tiffany Thomas and Evaleen Hellinga as they discuss employee accommodations and how long an employer must accommodate an employee before considering termination.
Date: Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Time: 10:30-11:00 am EST
Register today: Click here!
4 Common Mistakes to Avoid with Fixed-Term Contracts
When fixed-term contracts are misused, they can become very risky for employers. Below are 4 common ones for employers to avoid.
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An Employer’s Guide to Managing Employees with Progressive Discipline
If you’re an employer, you know that, whether you have 10 employees or 100, there is an art to managing your workforce and a well-oiled human resource process is necessary for a well-run business. You invest a lot of time and money into your employees and, understandably, expect attendance, productivity, and proper work conduct in return that will benefit your business as a whole.
If you have employees who aren’t meeting the expectations of their role, it’s important not to have a knee-jerk reaction. Instead, progressive discipline gives both the employer and employee the opportunity to get on the same page and provides the employee with a roadmap for improvement.
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Don’t Leave it to Luck: Update Employment Contracts Following Substantial Changes to the Job
With St. Patrick’s Day having just passed, many of us start to bank on luck at this time of the year. While luck might get you to the end of the rainbow on some things, we wouldn’t recommend that you lean on luck when it comes to non-existent, outdated or incomplete employment contracts.
The Consequences of Leaving it up to Luck
First, in case you’re new here or need a quick refresher, employment contracts are often recommended by lawyers and adopted by employers to bring a level of certainty to the employment relationship. Employment contracts can achieve a variety of things but generally, they set out the responsibilities and expectations of the employee and employer. If the employment relationship is bound by provincial employment standards legislation (it usually is), then the contract has to, at the very least, uphold the minimum standards of the applicable legislation.
If your employment contract runs afoul of the applicable employment standards legislation by failing to uphold the minimum standards as required by the law, your contract could be deemed unenforceable. Contracts could also be found to be unenforceable if they fail to comply with the principles of contract law.
Update on COVID-19 Layoff Provisions
This past Monday marked the three-year anniversary of the date the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Since that fateful day in 2020, a lot has changed. Though there remain areas where transmission rates are still high, increased vaccination rates, higher immunity, and public health measures have helped curtail the spread of the virus and significantly decreased the rate of new infections in Canada.
As a result, many provinces and territories are revoking laws that were amended or implemented as a result of the virus. For example, about a month ago, Alberta repealed the COVID-19 layoff provisions in its Employment Standards Code (the “ESC”). This followed a trend we saw with the federal government as well as many other provinces such as Ontario.
Free Webinar: Employment Agreements
So many of our clients come to us with legal issues that resulted from poorly crafted employment agreements.
Join us as we walk you through the key components of legally-compliant, enforceable and up-to-date employment agreements.
Date: Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Time: 10:30-11:00 am EST
Register today: Click here!