Beth Traynor

Are you experiencing an abnormally high level of absenteeism among female employees today? If so, here’s a great article featuring advice from some of our most respected employment law colleagues: The “Women’s Strike”: What employers need to know

Unionized employers regularly deal with employees alleging breaches of their human rights. These allegations can be the subject of the grievance process or an application to the province’s forum for hearings into human rights cases. In Ontario, the forum is the Human Rights Tribunal; in Mani…

The final report from Ontario’s Changing Workplaces Review is expected any day now, but in a taste of what’s to come, some changes are already being implemented. Since 2004, s. 50 of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”) has required employers with more than 50 employees to provide 10 u…

The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal says it has “clarified” its test for discrimination on the basis of family status. Noting it is not bound by the decisions of other tribunals or courts outside Ontario, the Tribunal has now gone back to basics, but whether the test is any more clear remains …

The Ontario Ministry of Labour has now issued a Code of Practice containing direction with respect to its expectations for the implementation of Bill 132, which amends the workplace harassment provisions of the Occupational Health & Safety Act (“OHSA”). However, a few remaining “grey ar…

As someone currently channelling Helen Mirren as a role model, the thought of age discrimination strikes a little too close to home. Kudos to the inimitable Dick Van Dyke for his plain speaking about this particular elephant in the room.

It has been six years since Bill 168 amended Ontario’s Occupational Health & Safety Act to require employers to take steps to prevent and to deal with bullying and harassment in the workplace. Since that time, we have come to realize that there were gaps – some would say flaws – in the …

In February 2015, the provincial government appointed two Special Advisors to lead and coordinate public consultations on how the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the “ESA”) and the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (the “LRA”) could be amended to better protect workers in the changing economy. The …

It’s summer and the livin’ may be easy if you’re on vacation. But if you’re at work, you’d better be working safely! The Ministry of Labour is running a blitz from May 16th until July 15th, focusing attention on falls from height. They’ve warned us that they “will be taking a no tolerance in…