Urbandale Construction Limited, a residential construction company from Ottawa, was fined $40,000 on September 24, 2009, for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) after a worker was injured. Laren Holdings Inc., carrying on business as Tony Olsen Enterprises, an Ottawa roofing contractor, was fined $50,000 in relation to the same incident. The violations were contrary to Ontario Regulation 213/91, Section 35(2) On June 20, 2008, Urbandale Construction was building residential townhouses with Tony Olsen Enterprises constructing the roofs. A worker on the roof of one of the townhouses threw a pallet off the roof towards a
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →Liquidation World Inc., an Alberta discount retailer, was fined $18,000 today for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA). The violation were breaches of Ontario Regulation 851, Sections 73(a) and 73(b). On September 23, 2008, an inspector visited Liquidation World’s Brantford location as part of the Ministry of Labour’s safety blitz on falls in industrial workplaces. The inspector found that two workers had been using an unsafe ladder. The ladder was missing three of its four non-slip feet, and one of its cross-members was broken. Liquidation World Inc. pleaded guilty under the OHSA to failing to ensure
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →This is a great case that deals with two familiar but important employment law issues – the classic independent contractor vs employee argument, the alternative of just cause and a defamation law suit. The plaintiff, Ms. Greenland, was terminated from her company, Arvan. She was a physiotherapist in an old age home. There was an argument as to whether she was hired as an employee or an independent contractor. As an employee, her employment contract would be accompanied with implied conditions of reasonable notice, or pay in lieu of reasonable notice, in the event of termination without cause She counter-sued
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →Some time ago I wrote an article on probationary periods that you can find here. This following case is the perfect example of the dangers of probationary periods. If you want to read the case in it’s entirety you can read it here as a public document. It is contractual issue. Employers – you should have a probationary clause that is clear, unambiguous and you must ensure the employee understands it. You should also never agree to a contract until you get a signature on it. The case below is about a guy that claimed he was offered a job
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →*The below is simply an overview. It is not exhaustive of the steps and procedure required by the Human Rights Tribunal. Everything is going fine day to day. Your paper company is doing better. The economy is picking up and you’re starting to see better profits. Management is happy. Jobs are secure. Employees are content. Then out of the blue, on a Friday morning you receive a Government addressed package in the mail. You were not expecting anything. Surprise. Your weekend is ruined. You’ve been notified by the Ontario Human Rights Complaint that Peter Griffin, an employee you let go
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →Millard Refrigerated Services Canada ULC, a Brampton warehousing and distribution facility, was fined $75,000 on September 11, 2009, for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) after a young worker was injured. On March 8, 2008, the temporary worker was putting stickers on boxes and manually loading them into a trailer. While a supervisor was on a break, the worker tried using a stand up lifting device to move the boxes. While operating the device in reverse, the worker lost control, and it crashed through a closed loading door and fell over, pinning the worker’s leg to
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →Vitrerie Lessard Inc., a Quebec manufacturer and installer of windows and other glass and aluminum designs, was fined $65,000 on September 14, 2009, for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) after a worker was injured. On December 11, 2007, workers were installing windows on an apartment building in Ottawa. They were working from a suspended platform just below the second floor. One worker, who was about to step down to the platform from the second floor slab, had a lifeline tied to a nearby window frame. The worker untied the lifeline and it sprang out of
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →What happens if a woman takes maternity leave, returns to work, and is then terminated soon after? Well, if you are reading this and you are an employer – you are probably trying to educate yourself on the issue. Let me help you – don’t mess around with employees coming back from mat leave. Talk to a lawyer. You are opening the evil door of exposure. An employee cannot be penalized because she plans to take or has taken a pregnancy and parental leave. This is a right that employees have in this province. If you tell and employee differently
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →Retirement in the employment law context should be looked at from both a common law perspective and a statutory law perspective. Retirement: the Human Hights Tribunal Retirement was an issue before December 2006. Before that date, employers were able to adopt mandatory retirement policies at age 65 because of the wording of the human rights code. The code did not prohibit mandatory retirement and age discrimination for people over 65. The wording of age was “18 to 65″. As result employment law policies written by the employer were difficult to challenge. Employees were in fact being discriminated against because of their age.
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Back to Basics: Record Keeping for employers
Employers: it is the law in Ontario that you are required to keep certain written records about each person that you hire. The employer must also ensure that the records are readily available for inspection. What must you keep? You must retain the employee’s name, address and starting date of employment for three years after the employee stopped working for you. You must keep the employee’s date of birth if the employee is a student under 18. This must be kept for either three years after the employee’s 18th birthday or three years after the employee stopped working for the