We are super excited to share that our founder Lisa Stam has been nominated for a Canadian Lawyer Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers “Changemakers Award”!  Lisa has always made it a top priority to make legal services relevant, easy to access & more affordable through tech smarts!

We’d sure appreciate it if you could cast a vote for her – anyone can vote! Please click here.  Voting ends this Friday, June 5.  Thanks so much!

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Continue Reading Cast Your Vote! Lisa Stam Nominated for a Changemakers Award!

new Infectious Disease Emergency Leave regulationAs many of our readers and clients know, we have been cautioning that the legality of certain layoffs and job changes necessitated by COVID-19 is uncertain. Generally, layoffs are only legal if the employment contract gives the employer the right to layoff, and many other job changes, such as reductions in hours or pay, raise the risk of constructive dismissal. We anticipated that at some point the Ontario government may weigh in and change the law – on Friday they did.  

Continue Reading Big Changes for COVID-19 Layoffs in Ontario: New O. Reg 228/20 Infectious Disease Emergency Leave Curtails Constructive Dismissal Claims

COVD-19 and WSIBOntario potentially has another new COVID-19 related law on the horizon, this time related to worker’s compensation. On May 19, Bill 191, Workplace Safety and Insurance Amendment Act (Presumption Respecting COVID-19), 2020 passed first reading in the Ontario Legislature. 

COVID-19 a Presumptive Occupational Disease for Essential Workers

If the Bill is passed, it will amend the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 to add a presumption that COVID-19 is an occupational disease for workers working for essential businesses as deemed by an Order under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act. 

Continue Reading COVID-19 and Proposed Amendments to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997

A Guide for Employers during COVID-19A Guide for Employers during COVID-19

This Guide sets out the key employment law issues to consider, as well as the government’s financial relief options to explore to get through this deep economic crisis.  (Last Updated May 22, 2020).

Further free resources can be found here.

Should you need legal advice on how to manage your workplace during the COVID-19 outbreak, please get in touch.

This week in Ontario many businesses are re-openingThis week in Ontario many businesses are re-opening. Employers and employees alike have questions about going back to work and the intersection of re-starting businesses with the various government subsidies that have been tiding many people over. 

Bringing Employees Back to Work Using the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)

Many employers have laid off a good portion of their workforce and now with re-opening are looking to bring some of those workers back. Businesses that have been hit hard financially may be able to take advantage of the CEWS while earnings are still uncertain as business ramps back up. Getting the CEWS for employees who have been laid off is a little complicated because of the definition of an eligible employee. But first, let’s look at eligible employers. 

Continue Reading Government Benefits and Bringing Employees Back: The CERB and CEWS

considerations for employers as the provinces are opening back upThe provinces are opening back up and various guidance has been issued to employers regarding how to do so safely, but the virus still exists and it’s still contagious. Governments who have been encouraging people to stay home are now contemplating how to get people to go out when really conditions regarding the virus have not drastically changed. This juxtaposition will have an impact on workplaces. 

Continue Reading Considerations for Employers as We Return to Work

A Guide for Employers during COVID-19A Guide for Employers during COVID-19

This Guide for Employers During COVID-19 sets out the key employment law issues to consider, as well as the government’s financial relief options to explore to get through this deep economic crisis.  (Last Updated May 8, 2020).

Further free resources can be found here.

Should you need legal advice on how to manage your workplace during the COVID-19 outbreak, please get in touch.

re-opening business during COVID-19Many provinces across Canada have started the process of re-opening businesses. In Ontario, a select few seasonal businesses have been allowed to open this week with restrictions. These include seasonal businesses and some essential construction. Check out the Provincial News Release for the details. 

While the list is still very short, we can be sure that, eventually, society will be back up and running, but it may look a little different. 

Guidance from the Government

The Federal and Provincial governments have released an agreed-upon set of common principles to follow with respect to re-opening. The statement includes a commitment to support and monitor workplace protocols that are in place to keep Canadians safe at their jobs, and prevent the introduction and spread of COVID-19.

Further to this, the Ontario government has released a very detailed resource on the protection of workers, customers and the public from COVID-19. The guidelines are sector-specific and include workplace posters.

The Ontario government also launched a website where businesses can request a temporary rule or regulation change to help “remove obstacles and streamline Ontario’s ability to respond to the outbreak.” 

Consideration For Employers

In addition to following any of the specific government guidelines noted in the links above, employers can start to think about some of the following:

  • Who’s going to be in charge? Consider establishing a working group to take charge of re-opening and becoming familiar with the government’s guidance. It’s a big job and should not be done ad hoc! 
  • What will you do if you have to scale back? Make sure your plan is fluid and considers things like another shutdown or scale back. 
  • Keeping workers safe should be a priority. Consider how to change the layout to allow for physical distancing, as well as if workers need to stagger hours or work in shifts. 
  • Communicate with workers, customers etc. Stakeholders should be kept in the loop. Employees should know what the plan is so that they feel safe returning to work.
  • Establish policies so that everyone in the workplace knows how to follow guidelines. 
  • Consider how to deal with workers who refuse to return to work, in spite of your planning. While these will likely all require a case by case analysis, it’s a good idea to turn your mind to the possibility that not all workers will comply with returning to work. 

For further information and resources on re-opening, we invite you to join us at our next free SpringForward webinar “Pivoting After Quarantine: Recalling, Restructuring & Rebuilding” on Wednesday, May 20th at 10:30 AM EST.

If you have questions about the legal impacts of COVID-19 on your business and workforce get in touch to schedule a consultation. 

SpringLaw is super excited to share that Jessyca Greenwood has joined our team!  Jessyca brings with her over a decade of experience as a trial lawyer with a focus on criminal law, professional misconduct, mental health advocacy, and the complex way these areas intersect with the workplace.

Jessyca’s skills as a fierce advocate will fuel our expanding litigation practice.

Through her busy practice, she brings a deep knowledge of the impact mental health has on businesses, workers, and employers, and will continue to broaden SpringLaw’s expertise in mental health advocacy, crisis management and workplace safety. Her experience with regulatory law and professional misconduct will support our executive and professional employee practices.

Jessyca’s tech-savvy and uber-efficient approach to her client matters syncs up with SpringLaw’s online virtual platform, and we are excited to grow our practices together.

We’re so thrilled to have her on board!

Jessyca can be reached at jgreenwood@springlaw.ca.

Can I Afford Legal AdviceHow Can I Afford Legal Advice?

Many employers are facing rock hard choices right now: layoff on shaky legal ground or go bankrupt? Let some employees go, but how to afford termination pay? Offer more than ESA minimums to get a release or risk a claim down the road?

Since early March 2020, we’ve found ourselves regularly telling clients what the technical legal answers are, and then we quickly move to the COVID-19 business reality solution. This new world order is not going away anytime soon and I fully anticipate some new law coming out of this unique moment. Employers cannot afford payroll but employees cannot mitigate their job loss in this job market – so everyone is turning to the pandemic economic crisis as the reason for paying less termination pay or for demanding more of a package. Courts will have to somehow reconcile these competing interests, each of which is based on the same underlying issues caused by COVID-19.

Now is the moment for businesses to get creative, think about what the world will look like in a year, and to consider what people they need on board to get there. Most business owners we’re talking to have already been knee-deep in doing just that. Most business owners have typically already spent hours trying to reconfigure the numbers for a reset before they contact us. 

The Free Help

By the time we get the call, the typical client has already read through all the free info available:

But many businesses still need legal help for their snowflake issues.

The Self-Serve Option

In this hard cash crunch moment, employers are looking to more affordable options besides the traditional $400+ an hour legal advice. The quarantine has forced the business world to quickly move online and to get a lot more comfortable with online solutions, including legal solutions. 

Hearing the demand for quick solutions for savvy business owners who prefer the convenience and speed of accessing legal guides and templates online, we launched Pivot DIY in early April. We sell this offering for $450+HST, intentionally low and affordable for small businesses needing to rightsize their workplace asap. 

We see this as the way of the future – accessing legal help online, off-hours, at the user’s convenience. Business owners and entrepreneurs are increasingly turning to self-serve and DIY solutions, confident in their own ability to sort through the main stuff, and picking up the phone or sending an email to their lawyer for the more nuanced questions. 

The reality is most businesses have far more legal issues in common that not. If you can get at that broad common info at a very affordable price, you can use your business sense for much of the rest. For the truly unicorn snowflake issues, lawyers are awesome. But there are some great options to consider before the unicorns arrive.

Whether you have unicorns at your door or you want a new way of accessing DIY online legal services, we’re here to help.