Important Changes coming to Employment Standards Act and Labour Relations Code
Bill 8 – Amendments to the ESA On April 29, 2019, the BC NDP Government’s Minister of Labour, Harry Bains, introduced Bill 8 – Employment Standards Amendment Act (“Bill 8”) for first reading. The Bill will make extensive changes to…
Sheen Arnold McNeil LLP Lawyers join Pulver Crawford Munroe LLP
The partners of Pulver Crawford Munroe LLP are excited to announce that Peter Sheen, Susan Arnold, and Marcia McNeil will be joining the firm, effective January 1, 2019. Peter Sheen and Susan Arnold will be joining the firm’s Vancouver office,…
Why Office Romances Present Legal Risks for Employers
This article was originally published on October 3, 2018 by BIV (https://biv.com/), part of Glacier Media Inc., at https://biv.com/article/2018/10/why-office-romances-present-legal-risks-employers.
Proposed Amendments to the Employment Standards Act
On April 9, 2018, the Minister of Labour introduced the Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2018 (Bill 6), which proposes amendments to the Employment Standards Act, extending leaves of absence to employees. During leaves of absence recognized by the ESA, employers…
B.C. Court of Appeal clarifies standard for award of aggravated damages based on mental distress in wrongful dismissal cases
The B.C. Court of Appeal recently reversed a lower court decision and ruled that the “ordinary psychological impact” one experiences upon being terminated from a job is not compensable as aggravated damages. The plaintiff, Mr. Lau, brought a wrongful dismissal…
New Amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations
The Occupational Health and Safety Regulation (“OHSR”) under the Workers Compensation Act, (the “Act”) has been amended to add new provisions requiring an annual written evaluation by the employer of joint health and safety committees, minimum training requirements for new…
Alberta Court of Appeal Overturns Trial Court Decision on Good Faith Requirement when Dismissing an Employee without Cause
The Alberta Court of Appeal has rolled back a controversial trial court decision which had applied recent developments in the law to award damages to a dismissed employee for the lost opportunity to earn a payment under a long-term incentive…
No Resignation + No Failure to Mitigate = Damages
An employee who emailed his manager that he “will not be returning” did not quit, according to a recent BC Supreme Court decision. Mark Bishop was a 61 year old buyer for an electrical products retailer, Rexel Canada Electrical, with…
Court Finds Employer/Employee Relationship notwithstanding Contract between Two Corporations
The BC Supreme Court recently held that a contract between two corporations was essentially a contract of employment and awarded severance on termination of the contract. The court held that Tim Fernback, working through his incorporated entity TCV Ventures Corp….
Employee Failed to Mitigate after Rejecting Full-time Work in Favour of a Part-time Position
An employee’s entitlement to severance arising from her wrongful dismissal ended when she accepted employment from a new employer on a part-time basis, even though the new employer offered her full-time work. In Schinnerl v. Kwantlen Polytechnic University, 2016 BCSC…