SpringLaw is 6 years old!!

By Lisa Stam on April 3, 2023

I launched SpringLaw on April 1, 2017, with the mission to be a fully virtual, tech-forward employment law firm in the cloud. Although this now feels like a thousand years ago, before a global pandemic introduced the world to the ease of online communications and business, our purpose remains to disrupt old-school law in order to provide an amazing client journey.

We continue to solve workplace law issues through leading-edge, tech-forward collaboration with our virtual-only team, located throughout Ontario. We have built a web of internal communications, frequent team video & chat touchpoints, online-first systems and our data conveyor belt which are all focused on making the client journey as effective, efficient and practical as possible.

Thank you to all of our amazing clients, our workplace law community, our allies and all the friends and family who have supported us along the way.

SpringLaw’s First 6 Years by the Numbers

We’ve grown from 1 lawyer and an assistant to 9 lawyers, 2 paralegals, and 3 operational gurus. We continue to grow and have just posted for a new Marketing Manager.
We’ve opened over 1300 client matters, serving a mix of employers and employees and the full range of workplace law issues.
We’ve hosted 41 of our free monthly webinars, all posted on our YouTube channel.
We’ve written over 300 weekly blog posts.
We share those posts monthly with our 2500+ newsletter subscribers.
Most importantly, between the 14 people on our team, we have 9 dogs, 1 cat, 2 guinea pigs and 1 rabbit. Critical law firm numbers, I know.

An Employer’s Guide to Managing Employees with Progressive Discipline

By Lindsay Koruna on March 30, 2023

Posted in Discipline, Employer Resources, Employment Standards, HR, Termination of Employment

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.

SpringLaw is Hiring a Marketing Manager

By Lisa Stam on March 23, 2023

Posted in Uncategorized

Come join SpringLaw’s smart, tech-forward team!

We are a busy team of lawyers looking for a marketing whizz to help spread the word to employers and employees who could really use our innovative tech-forward legal solutions. This is the perfect role for a marketing generalist who is passionate about employment law, or law in general. If you are a brand-builder, with a talent for project management, and you’re looking for a high-impact position to grow your career, SpringLaw might be for you!

Don’t Leave it to Luck: Update Employment Contracts Following Substantial Changes to the Job

By Tiffany Thomas on March 23, 2023

Posted in Employer Resources, Employment Standards, HR, Termination of Employment

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

By Emily Siu on March 15, 2023

Posted in COVID-19, Employer Resources, Employment Standards, HR, Termination of Employment, Workplace Policies

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.

Top 3 Employment Law Risks in a Virtual Workplace

By Lisa Stam on March 3, 2023

Posted in Employer Resources, HR, Privacy, Workplace Policies

Employment Law Risks in a Virtual Workplace

Our modern, post-pandemic world continues to evolve into a new era of work. As workplaces increasingly move towards remote or at least hybrid environments, companies are sorting out how to build infrastructures that support ongoing culture, performance and customer satisfaction.

Our law firm has been virtual since we started out in 2017. Not only do we advise clients every day about their virtual workplace legal risks, but we experiment every day with virtual approaches and issues internally with our own team to continue to build a healthy and happy virtual business.

Here are the top 3 employment law risks we run across when businesses are solidifying their remote workplace.

Free Webinar: Employment Agreements

By Lisa Stam on March 2, 2023

Posted in Employer Resources, Employment Standards, HR

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!

When Professional and Personal Lives Mingle: Managing Workplace Romances

By Evaleen Hellinga on February 23, 2023

Posted in Employer Resources, Employment Standards, Harassment, HR, Workplace Policies

Toronto Mayor John Tory shocked the city last week by announcing his resignation due to an intimate relationship with one of his staff. Whatever your opinions about infidelity or John Tory may be, the scandal is a reminder to employers that workplace relationships may develop outside of professional boundaries. At best, these professional-turned-personal connections lead to a healthy and happy relationship for the employees in question. They put up professional boundaries while at work, you get a wedding invitation in the mail and, bonus, they can now carpool to the office. Not all relationships will not follow such a seamless trajectory, however, and can lead to significant disruption and ethical and legal conundrums for an employer. A Relationships at Work policy sets expectations to help avoid those bumpier roads.

Waksdale Reviews Spark Joy

By Marnie Baizley on February 16, 2023

Posted in Employer Resources, Employment Standards, HR, Termination of Employment, Workplace Policies

A new year often means some level of house-cleaning by employers, including the updating of core workplace documents. SpringLaw has seen a spike in this work because many employers understand, now more than ever, the need to have their employment contracts reviewed, with a particular focus on termination provisions. This review should include any ancillary policies, Codes of Conduct, or plan documents referencing when and under what circumstances an immediate termination for cause can occur. We refer to this as a ‘Waksdale review’ because it is driven by the court’s reasoning in Waksdale v. Swegon North America. For legal nerds, our prior blog details why a Waksdale review is necessary.

Employment & Human Rights Law in Canada