I was recently asked by a employer whether or not they can post ad ad for a job on workoplis.com before they terminated their employee. What a loaded question. The answer is well, obviously no, especially in his case, because they were not going to allege cause. In this post I refer to a case called Patterson v. Lee Munroe Chevrolet. This is a case where there was a communication breakdown that began with the employer posting an advertisement…and the plaintiff finding it. The situation led Judge Kent noted in this case that a lack of communication between the plaintiff
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →A reminder of public holidays under the Employment Standards Act: July 1, 2009 (Canada Day), September 7, 2009 (Labour Day), October 12, 2009 (Thanksgiving), December 25, 2009 (Christmas Day), December 26, 2009 (Boxing Day), January 1, 2010 (New Years Day), February 15, 2010 (Family Day), April 2, 2010 (Good Friday), May 24, 2010 (Victoria Day).
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →Mitigation is often a hot topic among plaintiff and defendant lawyers. The theory set out by case law long ago is simply that in that absence of an employment contract when terminated, an employee is required to take all reasonable steps to mitigate his or her losses by locating or attempting to locate alternate employment. The burden shifts upon the employer to prove that the employee has failed to mitigate his or her losses. What happens when both the employer and employee agree by written contract that a payout in lieu of notice will be paid upon termination? Does an
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →The theory of negligent misrepresentation was set by a case called the Queen v. Cognos that was decided by the Supreme Court of Canada. In this decision, Mr. Justice Iacobucci outlined five general requirements for imposing liability for negligent misrepresentations upon a Defendant: 1. There must be a duty of care based on a special relationship between the representor and the representee; 2. The representation in question must be untrue, inaccurate or misleading; 3. The representor must have acted negligently in making said representation; 4. The representee must have relied, in a reasonable manner, on said negligent misrepresentation; 5. The
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →Often times employees don’t properly understand what severance is. Severance pay is not termination pay. Termination pay is given to the employee in place of the required notice of termination. So what is severance? Severance is a statutory term. Severance of employment occurs when the employer dismisses the employee, including an employee can no longer be employed due to the bankruptcy or insolvency of the employer. Severance occurs when an employee is laid off 35 or more weeks out of 52 weeks. Severance also occurs when the business closes permanently. To qualify for severance pay in Ontario, the employee must
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →I’m often asked to buy both employers and employees of how the poor state of the economy affects severance payouts. We all know as employment lawyers that trying to figure out the proper payment in lieu of notice is a very difficult thing to do sometimes. We all know the Bardal factors set out way back in 1960. We use these factors in every case of termination that comes across our desk. The important factors set out in Bardal is the availability of alternate employment or similar employment. Similar employment would be having regard to the employee’s training and qualifications.
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →What is the difference between an independent contractor and employee in today’s day and age? The Y. generation has been described as very different from an employment standpoint as baby boomers because of various reasons, most notably technology and remote networking. It has become easier to start up a business or corporation and offer independent services to companies and employers. It’s become easier to move from job to job. For instance, I retained Demacmedia.com to perform certain services for this website. Demacmedia.com was not a part of an employment relationship by myself (Matt Lalande) or Haber & Associates in Burlington
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →I don’t know what it is with some employers that think they can just do what they want and bank on employees not consulting a lawyer. This week I again spoke to an employer that had terminated a woman because she was late for work to many times. The problem is that she was pregnant. During the meeting, we first established that yes, it was 2009 even my own mother would know not to do this. (yes, we have a long relationship so I can speak to him like this…) I then had to advise him of a few other
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →Where is the highest unemployment rate in Canada in May of 2009? Windsor Ontario. Their unemployment rate is 13.3%. Toronto is close second with 9%. There has been a spiral of layoffs that drove up unemployment in May. Canada suffered a net loss of 42,000 jobs across the country, pushing the jobless rate up 0.4 percentage points to an 11-year high of 8.4 per cent. Ontario lost about 60,000 jobs, which were mostly manufacturing jobs, which brings the province’s running tally of employment losses to 234,000 since the labour market peaked last October. Last month’s devastating losses thrust the province’s
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Can my employee and I make a deal outside the ESA?
Yes and No. You can, if you want to get fined up the ying yang. But no, the law does not let an employees agree to any to waive or give up his or her rights under the employment standards act (for example, the right to receive overtime pay or public holiday pay). Any such agreement will be rendered null and void any any employment standards act officer and court. Don’t do this.