Employer Permitted To Terminate Employees Receiving LTD Benefits

A recent New Brunswick Labour Adjudication decision addressed the sensitive issue of terminating permanently disabled employees on long-term disability leave (“LTD”).

New Brunswick Employers Now Need to Accommodate Family Status

New Brunswick is about to join the bandwagon by adding “family status” as a protected ground in its Human Rights Act. All other jurisdictions in Canada have already made this move.

December 1, 2016

The Beginning of the End of a Different Legal Test...

Misetich v Value Village Stores Inc., 2016 HRTO 1229 (“Misetich”), a recent decision from the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (the “Tribunal”) that considered an employee’s eldercare responsibilities, casts doubt on the correct legal test to be applied in cases of family status discrimination.

July 26, 2016

Absenteeism Due to Disability: Has Frustration of Contract Occurred?

Accommodating the extended absence of an employee who is off work due to illness or disability can be a difficult task for employers.

June 29, 2016

An Employee With a 14 Year Absence Reinstated With Full...

In May of 2016, in Fair v Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, 2012 HRTO 350, an Ontario Court of Appeal upheld a Human Rights Tribunal with important implications for employers in relation to the duty to accommodate and the jeopardy of reinstatement.

April 21, 2016

Employer’s Denial of Request for Summer Off, a Breach of...

Family status cases continue to work through human rights tribunals across the country.

February 25, 2016

Breastfeeding and the Duty to Accommodate: Federal Court of Appeal...

In Flatt v Canada (Attorney General), 2015 FCA 250 (CanLII), the Federal Court of Appeal (“FCA”) visited the issue of whether the decision to breastfeed one’s child is protected by human rights legislation.

December 22, 2015

#familystatus: a Top Trend in 2015 Canadian Employment Law

Given its rise in popularity in Canadian employment law over the past year, it is only fitting that the subject of the last Employment and Labour publication for 2015 consider a recent decision relating to this evolving area of human rights law.

November 20, 2015

Nova Scotia: Application of Restorative Process to Discrimination Complaint

Since 2012, the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission has adopted a restorative approach as the first option in addressing human rights complaints. If a complaint is referred to a Board of Inquiry, parties have the option to either proceed to a traditional hearing, or agree to a Restorative Board of Inquiry process.

Termination For Drug Impairment Is Not Discriminatory

In a recent decision of the Alberta Court of Appeal, Stewart v. Elk Valley Coal Corp., 2015 ABCA 225, it was held that the termination of an employee who tested positive for cocaine in a post-incident drug test was not discriminatory.