Coverage connected to Ontario, with verified short holdings, original analysis and links to the underlying sources. A publication date isn't the same as a decision date. The dates below identify which is shown.
63 verified publications. Showing the 36 most recent.
The arbitrator dismissed a police officer's duty of fair representation complaint because, although an interim ruling allowed him to explain why he had rejected the association's offer to file a grievance, he ultimately declined to testify or present evidence. The decision turns on the complainant's failure to prove a breach, not on a finding that the association's representation was substantively adequate.
The arbitrator allowed a policy grievance to proceed because its challenge to unilateral changes in negotiated health benefits went beyond two individual claims, so the insurer's role in denying coverage didn't resolve the employer's collective agreement obligations. Evidence of later benefit coordination changes could be considered as part of the continuing policy dispute, provided the union supplied full particulars, but whether the changes breached the agreement remained undecided.
The arbitrator ordered Sofina Foods to resume providing employees' social insurance numbers with union dues reports despite its privacy objections, finding that the collective agreement obligation fell within an Income Tax Act exception and that the union's authority and employees' signed forms also supported consent. The award distinguishes SIN reporting from the stricter rules for personal health information and shows why an employer's valid privacy concerns don't necessarily relieve it of a negotiated disclosure obligation.
The arbitrator dismissed a family status accommodation grievance as moot after the employee left and no tangible harm or outstanding remedy remained, without deciding whether the original denial was discriminatory. Claims of harassment and retaliation added later through particulars couldn't enlarge the original grievance, showing why those allegations must be included when a grievance is filed.
An arbitrator permitted pension contribution grievances filed more than 10 years after the shortfall began because the collective agreement's separate pension dispute process contained no filing deadline and displaced the ordinary grievance time limits. The ruling protects claims to vested pension contributions despite delay, while leaving the extent of retroactive recovery for another hearing.
An Ontario labour arbitrator held that the retirement home's first collective agreement preserved health benefit eligibility for part time staff working at least 22.5 hours a week, subject to the other plan requirements, rather than establishing benefits for every part time employee. The grievance was allowed in part, the employer's estoppel defence failed for lack of detrimental reliance, and compensation was left for the parties to determine.
The hospital agreed to disregard absences from the November 2021 to November 2022 lookback used to restart its attendance program, exclude qualifying infectious disease leaves under the Employment Standards Act, and assess whether COVID illness constituted a disability individually. An Ontario arbitration board treated those commitments as resolving the union grievance and retained jurisdiction to settle implementation disputes, without ruling that all COVID absences establish disability.
An Ontario arbitrator held that voluntarily accepted shifts and additional scheduled hours both count when deciding whether a nurse has worked the 5 consecutive shifts that trigger premium pay, although the additional hours themselves carry no premium. The hospital's longstanding unchallenged practice prevented recovery for the voluntarily accepted shifts through estoppel, but the nurse was awarded the premium for her 5th consecutive shift on February 19, 2023.
Ontario's Court of Appeal enforced a termination clause explicitly promising only the Employment Standards Act minimum payments when employment ended with or without cause. An employee's proposed misunderstanding didn't make the language reasonably ambiguous. His claim for common law notice failed.
The Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed a wrongful dismissal claim filed after the COVID limitation suspension. When the claim first arose during that suspension, the full 2 year period began on September 14, 2020. The court left the separate labour arbitration jurisdiction question undecided.
Uber couldn't force a Toronto delivery driver to pursue alleged employment rights through a Netherlands arbitration costing US$14,500 to start. The Supreme Court held the clause unconscionable because the bargaining imbalance produced a dispute process the driver couldn't realistically use.
The Supreme Court confirmed that Ontario public school boards are bound by section 8 of the Charter. A principal's search of teachers' private cloud notes required a constitutional privacy analysis, even in an employment grievance.
CIBC paid 2 investment consultants their statutory minimums following a restructuring, but an overbroad definition of cause invalidated its termination provisions. The court awarded 7 and 12 months of common law notice and addressed commissions, 2022 bonuses, benefits, pension losses and mitigation.
Ontario employers operating vehicle fleets should clarify insurance contacts and coverage choices without promising benefits that an insurer must determine.
Ontario is funding 3,604 additional places at Queen’s University across STEM, education and health programs.
A Guelph manufacturer was fined $70,000 after a worker was struck by moving equipment. Ontario says its warning system did not meet workplace safety requirements.
Up to 500 Stelco jobs are at risk even though Canada's 2024 approval of the takeover came with binding employment promises. The company and Ottawa disagree over what those promises require.
Ontario's pension unlocking proposal could change how former employees use certain retirement accounts. The consultation closed October 2, but the changes aren't law yet.
Ontario's rule against medical notes for ESA sick leave doesn't end every legitimate question about an absence. HR must distinguish short sick leave from longer illness, accommodation and return to work.
A worker's occupational asbestosis was compensable, but the Tribunal found other conditions caused the respiratory limitations at issue.
The Tribunal accepted that a letter carrier's work significantly contributed to a herniated disc, despite symptoms first appearing away from work.
A workplace compensation panel treated an associated management company as ancillary to a concrete cutting business when considering premium classification.
An Ontario tribunal declined to reopen an occupational disease decision where a proposed new medical opinion depended on statistical analysis that had not been completed.
A heavy equipment operator's occupational hearing loss and tinnitus led to a partly successful appeal and a retroactive pension calculation.
A 55 year old worker couldn't complete a rehabilitation program. The Tribunal said suitability required more than a review of her compensable injuries.
After a worker waited almost 20 years for a psychological disability pension, the Tribunal ruled that interest shouldn't be confined to the portion increased on appeal.
A worker injured her ankle at work and later fainted, injuring her neck and shoulder. The Tribunal connected the second fall to the original workplace injury.
A proposed customs officer job was unsuitable for a worker who couldn't pass the entrance examination despite genuine efforts.
An Ontario workers compensation tribunal dismissed a psychological injury claim after finding that a depressive illness would have developed independently of the workplace exposure.
An Ontario tribunal rejected an employer's appeal after a delayed $60 benefits payment triggered about $37,000 in experience rating costs.
Ontario's appeal court struck down terms cancelling restricted stock vesting at termination, adding US$4.7 million to damages because the provisions breached statutory notice protections.
Ontario's appeal court maintained a worker's 17 month notice entitlement but reduced damages by $32,881 he actually earned in a less senior job.
An Ontario court found a longtime seed salesman was a dependent contractor constructively dismissed when commission advances stopped, but allowed a counterclaim that changed the net result.
Two Ontario appeals clarified that language permitting termination at any time or for any reason doesn't automatically breach employment standards when the agreement preserves statutory minimums.
An Ontario court awarded a dismissed executive 24 months of notice and compensation for equity due to vest during that period, while refusing other bonus and punitive claims.
The Ontario Court of Appeal found an integrated executive was an employee under provincial employment standards law and refused to let a foreign forum clause stop his lawsuit.
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