Terminating Employees for Criminal Charges: Does Just Cause Exist
We live in a society where our criminal justice system presumes a person innocent until proven guilty. That said, the reality is that many people criminally charged are guilty. Even where innocent, it can take months – if not years – before criminal charges are resolved, during which time it…
View the post titled Terminating Employees for Criminal Charges: Does Just Cause ExistPromising development in US climate change litigation
An interesting, and potentially important, climate change precedent has come out of a US federal court. We reported last year about a lawsuit launched by Our Children’s Trust, a group of youth seeking to invoke the public trust doctrine and the principle of intergenerational equity to push s…
View the post titled Promising development in US climate change litigationFirst Fines Are Issued Under The Violence Provisions Of The OHSA
We are now starting to see the first decisions being released that deal with violations of the (fairly) new violence provisions added to the Occupational Health and Safety Act (“OHSA”). For details on those changes, you can revisit Mary Lou Brady’s blog here. Two convictions and heavy financ…
View the post titled First Fines Are Issued Under The Violence Provisions Of The OHSAFranchising an increasingly high-risk venture for franchisors
Canada is frequently hyped as an idyllic place to launch a franchise business, but that’s not the case for many franchisors who face tougher obstacles than their counterparts in other countries, says Siskinds franchise lawyer Peter Dillon in a recent article. Read the full article below. Fra…
View the post titled Franchising an increasingly high-risk venture for franchisorsEndangered Species Regulation Upheld at Court of Appeal
In a decision released last month, Wildlands League v Ontario (Natural Resources and Forestry), 2016 ONCA 741, the Court of Appeal has held that a regulation made under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) is valid. The regulation exempts certain industrial activities from the ESA’s prohibitio…
View the post titled Endangered Species Regulation Upheld at Court of AppealOngoing Evolution in the Law of Termination Provisions
Recent case law continues to address the enforceability of contractual provisions which try to limit employees’ entitlements on termination. Lawyers for terminated employees are keen to attack the validity of these clauses in an attempt to remove any cap on entitlements and extend the reason…
View the post titled Ongoing Evolution in the Law of Termination ProvisionsBeware the Employee Who Signs Too Quickly
Purchasing peace of mind against future litigation by offering a dismissed employee an exit package in exchange for a signed release is a common (and usually good) practice for employers. However, the B.C. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Saliken v. Alpine Aerotech Limited Partnership remi…
View the post titled Beware the Employee Who Signs Too QuicklyERT concludes turbine project will cause serious harm to human health
The Environmental Review Tribunal (“Tribunal”) has for the first time concluded that a wind turbine project would cause serious harm to human health. The Tribunal also concluded, as it did in an earlier case, that the project would cause serious and irreversible harm to an endangered bat spe…
View the post titled ERT concludes turbine project will cause serious harm to human healthOntario’s Human Rights Tribunal forges its own path on family status
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 …
View the post titled Ontario’s Human Rights Tribunal forges its own path on family statusWhen is a pit a “pit”?
The recent Ontario Court of Justice appeal decision in R v AJL Janssen Landscaping Ltd has offered some guidance as to the definition of “pit” under section 1(1) of the Aggregate Resources Act (“ARA”). AJL Janssen Landscaping (“AJL”) is a landscaping, road building, excavation, drilling, and…
View the post titled When is a pit a “pit”?Receive Blog Posts
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