by Brian Smeenk, formerly with McCarthy Tetrault
A new statutory holiday, Family Day, has been declared in the province of Ontario. It will be celebrated on February 18. In subsequent years, it will fall on the third Monday of each February.
Employers should begin considering how their organization will respond. In particular, employers should begin reviewing existing [...]

By Donovan Plomp
McCarthy Tetrault
In Canada, employees are entitled to certain government-provided benefits under the federal Employment Insurance Act, including “compassionate care benefits.”
The introduction of these benefits in January 2004 prompted almost all provinces and territories to introduce job-protected compassionate care leave in their respective minimum employment standards laws.
Employers in Canada must grant this leave in [...]

by Daniel Pugen
McCarthy Tetrault
Ontario’s new Regulatory Modernization Act, 2007 may sound like a bland piece of regulatory updating, but it actually contains significant changes to regulatory enforcement processes, including those in the employment field.
Passed by the Ontario legislature on May 17, 2007, and going into effect on January 17, 2008, this law will have real [...]

by Michael Ford
McCarthy Tetrault
A long-awaited ruling of the Alberta Court of Appeal clears up some questions related to preemployment drug and alcohol testing related to safety-sensitive positions.
The case – Chiasson v. Kellogg Brown & Root issued December 28, 2007 – involved an admitted casual user of marijuana being terminated from his employment after failing a [...]

By Karen Sargeant and Brian P. Smeenk
You’ve likely been in this situation before: One of your employees has engaged in questionable conduct. You’re in the process of investigating and are considering whether you should terminate the employee for cause. How do you go about it under Canadian employment laws?
Be careful
Terminating an employee’s employment for cause [...]

By Trevor Lawson and Donovan Plomp
McCarthy Tetrault
Although large employment-related class-action lawsuits have become commonplace in the United States, until recently they were virtually unknown in Canada.
The relative peace enjoyed by Canadian employers on this front was shattered with a $651 million class-action lawsuit filed in June 2007 against the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), [...]