Infectious Disease Emergency Leave and Termination
Many employers have availed themselves of the legislation enacted in Ontario creating Infectious Disease Emergency Leave. The result has been that many employers have been able to kick the can of workforce restructure down the road for a year or longer with little or no wage payment to their employees. As employers consider reopening during a...
Constructive Dismissal Award for $1,274,173.00 Upheld by Ontario Court of Appeal
The Ontario Court of Appeal has confirmed the law of constructive dismissal in Ontario.
Employees are constructively dismissed when the employer breaches an essential term of the employment contract OR a course of conduct by the employer establishes that it no longer intends to be bound by the employment contract. It’s this second branch of the...
Christopher Robertson Law PC opens January 1, 2021
We’re back!
We are pleased to announce that Christopher Robertson Law PC is leaving Morrison Brown Sosnovitch LLP effective January 1, 2021. Christopher Robertson Law PC is a firm that provides practical solutions to employers and employees and effective court room advocacy when necessary. Smart, measured, and efficient legal...
Without Cause termination provisions void
In a recent decision, the Ontario Court of Appeal confirmed what a few employment counsel had been saying all along. The standard for withholding statutory payments is wilful misconduct. This is a higher threshold than cause at common-law. Employment agreements that reference cause in the termination sections are largely unenforceable because they provide a lesser right than...
Contingency fees are permissible in Ontario
Employers can no longer expect that employees will capitulate in their claims for incentive compensation under the weight of the legal fees incurred to pursue such payments. Contingency fees also insulate the employee from excessive legal fee cost in the event that their claim is unsuccessful. Employers should be cautious in seeking to enforce exclusionary clauses until the Supreme...
Incentive during notice is the rule and not the exception
In a recent decision, the Supreme Court of Canada clarified the law regarding the payment of incentive compensation during a period of reasonable notice. The counter-intuitive approach to incentive compensation set out in the Employment Standards Act has always provided for payment of incentive compensation during the statutory notice period where incentive payments were made in the...