On January 11, 2016 an Ontario court imposed the harshest sentence ever for an individual’s role in a workplace accident. A project manager was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for his role in four workplace deaths that occurred on December 24, 2009.
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.
The employee, Ms. Steel (“Steel”), made a summary judgment application to the Supreme Court of British Columbia (“BCSC”) for damages for wrongful dismissal from her employment with Coast Capital Savings Credit Union (the “Employer”).
There is another court decision out of the well-known tragedy in Toronto involving five workers who fell from the thirteenth floor of a high-rise building on December 24, 2009. The men’s duties on the date of the accident included pouring concrete on balconies they were using a swing stage to access.
On May 21, 2013 Chris Boyle, an employee of R.D. Longard Services Limited (“Longard”), died on the job after being electrocuted. Longard was charged under the Nova Scotia Occupational Health and Safety Act. The charges included not taking every reasonable precaution for the health and safety of Mr. Boyle. By decision dated April 17, 2015, Judge Anne Derrick found Longard guilty. Sentencing is to take place later.
The Nova Scotia Occupational Health and Safety regime is undergoing a complete overhaul, with potential huge impacts for employers respecting cost of compliance and risk of liability. The changes are part of the five-year Workplace Safety Strategy, a joint initiative between the Department of Labour and Advanced Education and the Workers’ Compensation Board. The Strategy was developed in direct response to a recognition that the old system—a piecemeal assortment of rules and regulations—was tough to navigate and produced inconsistency in interpretation and enforcement.
In Ostrow v. Abacus Management Corp. Mergers and Acquisitions, 2014 BCSC 938 (May 29, 2014), the British Columbia Court Supreme Court assessed the appropriate notice period for a nine-month employee.
One of the questions at the forefront of many employers’ minds when they are considering terminating an employee without cause is how much it is going to cost. Unless there is a written employment contract with an express termination clause, an employer’s obligation is to provide reasonable notice of termination.