A 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 June 8, 2021)
Further free resources can be found here.
Should you need legal advice on how to manage
A 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 26, 2021)
Further free resources can be found here.
Should you need legal advice on how to manage
At long last, the impact of Ontario’s Infectious Disease Emergency Leave (IDEL) on employee constructive dismissal claims has been litigated. Employment lawyers have been speculating for a long while about how courts will treat the various employment pivots employers were required to make during the pandemic. We now have our first answer.
Last week, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice released its decision in Coutinho v. Ocular Health Centre Ltd. and ruled that the IDEL does not take away an employee’s ability to sue for constructive dismissal.
What’s Constructive Dismissal?
A constructive dismissal occurs when an employer unilaterally and substantially changes an express or implied term of the employee’s contract. The term also needs to have been essential. Changes regarding pay, duties, hours of work etc., can all potentially be constructive dismissals.
Continue Reading An Important Ruling for Employers on Constructive Dismissal and the IDEL
A 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 April 1, 2021)
Further free resources can be found here.
Should you need legal advice on how to manage
A 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 March 26, 2021)
Further free resources can be found here.
Should you need legal advice on how to manage
A 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 February 24, 2021)
Further free resources can be found here.
Should you need legal advice on how to manage
We had a feeling this might happen! And it has. The Ontario government has extended the length of the Deemed Infectious Disease Emergency Leave (IDEL) AGAIN! Enacting O. Reg 765/20, amending O. Reg 228/20 both under the Employment Standards Act (ESA).
We have been warning our clients – and webinar attendees – about the upcoming January 2, 2021 end to the Deemed IDEL – it has now been extended to July 3, 2021.
What is a Deemed IDEL?
Employees who were laid off or had their hours reduced from March 1, 2020, until July 3, 2021, are on a deemed IDEL. During normal times, we would consider these employees to just be laid off but these regulations convert any reduction in hours – including all the way to ZERO hours and ZERO pay – to be deemed IDELs and not layoffs.
Continue Reading New! IDEL Extension Until July 3, 2021
With the new Ontario Covid-19 response framework in place and Covid-19 still on the rise, employers need guidance on how to navigate workplace law issues.
During our last webinar, we covered this very topic and were flooded with employer questions. This is Part 2 of our Q&A on the second wave of Covid-19 workplace law issues. Click here for Part 1.
Question 7: If an employee chooses to work from home because of childcare, kids’ online learning/homeschooling, but their role is impossible to do at home, are we required to provide alternative work OR do they just go on leave?
Continue Reading Covid-19 2nd Wave Workplace Law Issues: Part 2
With the second wave of Covid-19 upon us, new government benefits now in place and government business restrictions shifting, it is important for employers to be up to speed on key workplace legal considerations and compliance issues. During our last webinar, we covered this very topic and were flooded with questions from employers. Below is part 1 of a summary of the most common Q&As.
Question 1: Are employees entitled to an accommodation to work from home if it is a choice or preference to not put their kids in school, rather than a need based on health issues?
Continue Reading Covid-19 2nd Wave Workplace Law Issues: Part 1
Employers are encountering issues as they ask their employees to come back to work. We will take a look at some of these in today’s blog.
A Recap
Many employees were placed on layoffs in March 2020, when the shutdowns occurred. In Ontario, these layoffs were then converted into deemed Infectious Disease Emergency Leaves. While statutory layoff timelines normally restrict the amount of time an employee can be on a layoff before being considered terminated, in Ontario the Infectious Disease Emergencies Leave amendments to the Employment Standards Act changed this. Ontario employees can now be involuntarily off work (laid off) until January 2, 2020, without having a termination triggered.
A layoff does not end the employment relationship. It’s just a temporary pause, which anticipates that the employer will bring the employee back to work or recall them.
Continue Reading Recalling Employees to Work: Considerations for Employers