Malcolm MacKillop's Blog, page 11
February 28, 2019
The Top 5 Developments in Labour & Employment Law in 2018 (and What to Expect in 2019)
The past few years have been rife with developments in labour and employment law and 2018 was no exception. Not only did Canada become the second country in the world to legalize recreational cannabis, Ontario’s newly elected government passed legislation undoing much of the previous government’s labour and employment reforms. The Ontario Court of Appeal released yet another decision on the enforceability of termination clauses, and the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal released a ruling that cou...
January 2, 2019
The Police Record Checks Reform Act is in Force: What You Should Know
After three years of sitting in legal limbo, the Police Record Checks Reform Act (“Act”) came into force on November 1, 2018. The Act standardizes the procedures for conducting police record checks and the types of information these checks will disclose. The Act places clear limits on the type of information reported and how employers may receive the requested information.
Standardized Information
There are now three standard types of police record checks: the criminal record check; the crimi...
December 2, 2018
Bill 47 has Passed: Changes to Employment Standards Come into Effect on January 1, 2019
On November 21, 2018 Bill 47, the Make Ontario Open for Business Act (“Bill 47”), passed Third Reading and received Royal Assent. This comes quickly on the heels of Bill 47’s first reading, on October 23, 2018 and its second reading on November 12, 2018. Bill 47 has not undergone any significant changes in relation to the Employment Standards Act (“ESA”) since our first blog post which you can read about here.
There have been some changes made to Bill 47 since first reading in relation to the...
October 30, 2018
Cannabis is Now Legal: Is Your Workplace Ready?
Overview
The federal Cannabis Act comes into effect on October 17, 2018. As such, the recreational use of cannabis is now legal in Canada. What does this mean for employers? To prepare for the legalization of recreational cannabis, employers should have four (4) key things in place:
October 25, 2018
Open Season on Ontario’s Employment & Labour Legislation
The Ontario government recently promised to repeal much of the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act (“Bill 148”) and they are now delivering on that promise with their newly introduced Making Ontario Open for Business Act (“Bill 47”). Bill 47, introduced on October 23, 2018, proposes to repeal many of the changes the former liberal government made to Ontario’s employment and labour laws with Bill 148. We have outlined some of the key changes Bill 47 proposes below.
Changes to the Employment Stand...
September 10, 2018
About Malcolm MacKillop, Founding Partner of Shields O’Donnell MacKillop LLP
Malcolm MacKillop is an attorney and founding member of Shields O’Donnell MacKillop LLP, a boutique labor and employment first in Toronto, Canada. Malcolm has over 30 years of professional experience in law. His professional experience includes work as a successful trial lawyer, professional speaker, professor of law, and author of several leading publications, including Employment Law Solutions, Creative Solutions, and Damage Control.
Malcolm MacKillop earned his degree from UNB Law School...
Ontario Human Rights Tribunal finds Terminating Employee Benefits at Age 65 is Unconstitutional
As a result of a recent decision out of the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal (the “Tribunal”), employers may no longer be able to exempt employees age 65 or older from their workplace benefits policies. Until this point, s. 25(2.1) of the Human Rights Code (the “Code”), in conjunction with certain provisions of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the “ESA”), has allowed employers to terminate an employee’s benefits when they reach the age of 65. In Talos v. Grand Erie District School Board, 2018...
August 24, 2018
Attention Employers: New Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 Put On Hold
The Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 (“SFO Act”) has been indefinitely postponed to give the new provincial government an opportunity to review the new regulations related to vaping. For details, please see https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/1.... For now, the existing Smoke-Free Ontario Act and the Electronic Cigarettes Act, 2015 remain in force. We will update the blog as the situation changes.
On July 1, 2018 the new Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 (“SFO Act”) and its accompanying regulation, O...
July 5, 2018
Supreme Court Of Canada Upholds Termination For Drug Policy Violations
In light of the Supreme Court of Canada’s (the “SCC”) decision in Stewart v. Elk Valley Coal Corp (“Stewart”), employers who employ workers in safety-sensitive workplaces may now have more assurance that policies encouraging workers to voluntarily disclose substance abuse issues will be upheld.
In Stewart, the SCC upheld the company’s decision to dismiss an employee who failed to comply with the company’s policy by not disclosing his addiction to cocaine before a drug-related incident occurre...
Make Sure Your Release Stands Up In Court
Downsizing a company’s workforce is a tough process and can also be quite expensive, both as a result of severance payments and wrongful dismissal lawsuits. One option for reducing or eliminating litigation costs is to make the payment of severance conditional on signing a release. Many believe that if an employee signs a release, an employer can rely on it to stop any legal proceedings. However, a release can be set aside if a court determines that it is “unconscionable”.
Rubin v. Home Depo...
