Category: News
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 2026, the B.C. Supreme Court found that by turning down full-time work, Ms. Schinnerl had […] Read more
Failure to Mitigate Results in Reduced Damages for Wrongfully Dismissed Employees
The BC Supreme Court held that where a plaintiff makes no or minimal efforts to mitigate after being wrongfully dismissed, the employer may be relieved of the obligation to prove that reasonable efforts may have yielded employment. In Logan v. Numbers Cabaret Ltd. (c.o.b. Hamburger Mary’s), 2016 BCSC 1473, the Court reduced the award of […] Read more
YEAR-LONG HIATUS AND HANDBOOK DID NOT LIMIT EMPLOYEE’S LENGTH OF SERVICE OR SEVERANCE
An employer was not permitted to discount an employee’s period of employment due to her break in employment when determining her severance entitlement because the employer had agreed to recognize her earlier service. Further, an employee handbook which purported to limit her severance did not have contractual force. In Cheong v. Grand Pacific Travel & […] Read more
New Lobbyist Act goes into Effect in Saskatchewan
On August 23, 2016, Saskatchewan’s Lobbyist Act was proclaimed, making Saskatchewan the last of the four Western provinces to enact lobbyist legislation. Administered by the Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists, the Act is intended to ensure that all lobbyists who are attempting to influence public office holders register their activities in the registry database. […] Read more
Supreme Court of Canada: Federally Regulated Employees Protected From Most without Cause Terminations
The Supreme Court of Canada has recently resolved conflicting case law to hold that federally regulated employees cannot be dismissed without cause, absent a lay off due to “lack of work” or the “discontinuance of a function”. Under the Canada Labour Code (the “Code”), which applies to federally regulated employers, a non-union employee in a […] Read more
UBC’s Failure to Accommodate Medical Student’s Disability Leads to Reinstatement, $385,000 for Lost Wages and $75,000 Injury to Dignity Award
The B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld a decision that determined the University of British Columbia failed to accommodate the disabilities of a student in its Faculty of Medicine. Dr. Kelly was a resident in the UBC post-graduate training program in family medicine. He suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as well as a non-verbal […] Read more
Employer’s Contract Breach renders Non-Competition Clause Unenforceable against former employee
A recent decision of the BC Supreme Court is a good reminder that employers that wish to rely on non-competition or non-solicitation clauses in their contracts with former employees should comply with other aspects of the contract or risk the clauses being held unenforceable. In P.R.I.S.M. v. Kramchynski, 2016 BCSC 883, the employer, by failing […] Read more
Ontario Nurse Suspended for Privacy Breach
A recent decision from Ontario has highlighted the serious nature of privacy breaches and the need for employers to be vigilant about their employees’ access to personal and sensitive information. The College of Nurses of Ontario recently ruled that a nurse charged under Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) committed professional misconduct by […] Read more
