Tag: Supreme Court of Canada

A win for employers: Supreme Court rejects union’s effort to obtain right of consultation in accommodation process

by John Craig and Matthew Larsen Do unions have an independent legal right, separate and apart from their collective agreement rights, to be involved in every unionized employee’s accommodation request? This question was answered earlier this year by the British Columbia Court of Appeal, which ruled that unions have no such right. Recently, in Telecommunications […]

Recent B.C. decision on secondary picketing at non-striking facility

by David T. McDonald About 15 years ago, the Supreme Court of Canada changed the law on secondary picketing in Canada. That decision, RWDSU Local 558 v. Pepsi-Cola Canada Beverages (West) Ltd., 2002 SCC 8, ruled that secondary picketing was generally lawful unless accompanied by wrongful conduct such as violence or blockading. This meant that […]

Justice system failed the victims of Radiohead stage collapse

by Norm Keith On September 5, 2017, Justice Nelson of the Ontario Court of Justice stayed all charges against the accused in the deadly stage collapse at the Radiohead concert in Downsview Park on June 16, 2012. These charges under the Occupational Health & Safety Act (OHSA) are the latest in a series of serious regulatory […]

Discipline for off-duty cocaine use justified in safety-sensitive workplace

by Rosalind H. Cooper A recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Stewart v Elk Valley Coal Corp., 2017 SCC 30, has confirmed that employers have the ability to take disciplinary action against employees for drug and alcohol use in safety-sensitive workplaces. The worker in this case was employed in a mine where […]

Nonunionized federal employees in Canada insulated from without-cause dismissals

by Christopher Pigott A sharply divided Supreme Court of Canada recently overruled the Federal Court of Appeal and held that, subject to narrow exceptions, federal employers are not entitled to terminate nonunionized employees without cause (Wilson v. AECL). This prohibition applies even if the employer is willing to provide generous notice and severance pay.

Supreme Court of Canada reshapes labor law (again)

by John D.R. Craig, Christopher D. Pigott, and Brandon Wiebe In the January 2015 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL), the Court found, for the first time, that Canadian workers have a constitutional “right to strike.” In reaching this conclusion, the Supreme Court overturned almost 30 years of […]

Punitive damages awards increasing in Canadian employment cases

By David McDonald In wrongful dismissal cases in Canada, punitive damages awards are available only in exceptional situations. That’s what the Supreme Court of Canada said in 2008 in Honda Canada v. Keays. The employer’s conduct in the course of termination must be proven to be harsh, vindictive, reprehensible, and malicious. Despite this high threshold, […]

Workplace computer porn: court rules employees’ privacy rights limit police

by Jennifer Shepherd On October 19, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) issued its ruling in R. v. Cole. The court held that a person’s right to be protected against unreasonable searches was breached when the police looked at computer files the employer had given them without first obtaining a search warrant. Facts A […]