Debt bondage happens when overseas recruiters charge workers high fees to access jobs in Canada. Advocates say major changes to law and policy are needed to prevent it. Southeast Asian and eastern European women, hired as domestics but forced into jobs as sex workers. Jamaican, Guatemalan and … [Read more...]
Takeaways from Recent Alberta Employment Law Decisions
Two recent Alberta employment law cases clarified the law on just cause for dismissal and calculating reasonable notice. An Overview of Dismissals in Alberta In Alberta, an employer needs just cause (a justifiable reason) to dismiss an employee immediately, without advance notice or … [Read more...]
When “I Quit” Isn’t the Whole Story: What the Volpi Case Means for People Who Support Workers
If an employee quits because of a known mental health condition, the employer has a duty to ask about their reasons for quitting instead of just accepting the resignation. EDITOR’S NOTE This article first appeared on the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre's blog on July 15, 2026 and is … [Read more...]
2025 Employment Law Alberta Year in Review – Part 2
In 2025, Alberta courts decided on important employment law issues, including employment contracts, the duty to mitigate damages for wrongful dismissal, summary judgment, and more. This two-part article summarizes some important employment law decisions in Alberta in 2025. It does not focus on … [Read more...]
2025 Employment Law Alberta Year in Review – Part 1
In 2025, Alberta courts decided on important employment law issues, including severance pay and reasonable notice, employment standards, professional regulation, just cause for termination, and more. This two-part article summarizes some important employment law decisions in Alberta in 2025. It … [Read more...]
Significant Compensation for Workplace Sexual Harassment: Employers should take note
Sexual harassment at work is a form of discrimination under human rights laws, and recent significant awards from the Alberta Human Rights Commission should encourage employers to address this behaviour in the workplace. The Alberta Human Rights Act (the Act) protects Albertans from … [Read more...]
Shaping Employment Law: 6 Ontario Court of Appeal decisions in 6 months
The courts continue to shape employment law, and six decisions of the Ontario Court of Appeal from January to June of 2025 clarify the law on enforcing contracts, mitigating losses, fiduciary duties and termination clauses. In the first half of 2025, the Ontario Court of Appeal issued a series … [Read more...]
Don’t Leave Pay Behind: Know your rights under Alberta’s employment standards laws
Alberta’s Employment Standards Code sets out minimum standards employers must follow about minimum wage, minimum hours of work, overtime hours and pay, and more. Alberta’s Employment Standards Code (the Code) sets out the minimum standards that employers must provide to employees in Alberta. … [Read more...]
2024 Employment Law Alberta Year in Review
In 2024, Alberta courts decided on important employment law issues, including streamlined trials, employees as fiduciaries, just cause for dismissal, drug testing polices, non-compete and non-solicit injunctions, and more. This article summarizes some important employment law decisions in … [Read more...]
Privacy and Medical Information in the Workplace
How can we balance an employer's right to know about illness or disability and an employee's right to privacy? EDITOR'S NOTE A version of this article first appeared in LawNow in 2019. It has been reviewed for legal accuracy in 2024 by the author. Requesting medical information from … [Read more...]
