Last week a Craigslist post made the rounds of my social circle in Vancouver. It advertised an exciting opportunity for a peppy, earnest young person to become a “Barista Intern”, to learn to handle, and I quote, “thirst and hunger requirements.” Needless to say, it was torn apart and taken down not long after. It […]
Regulation of Employment Agencies
. . . the essential duty of the employment service shall be to ensure . . . the best possible organization of the employment market as an integral part of the national programme for the achievement and maintenance of full employment and the development and use of productive resources. – International Labour Organization, Employment […]
Bench Press 38-5: Balancing Work and Family
Fiona Johnstone began a long odyssey through Canadian courts when she encountered difficulties in finding childcare for her two toddlers so that she could continue to work for Canada Border Services. A childcare expert testified that Ms Johnstone faced a very difficult work environment: different shifts at different times and different days including weekends, overtime, […]
Vicarious Liability: The Legal Responsibility of Employers
“It is right and just that the person who creates a risk bears the loss when the risk ripens into harm.” – Bazley v. Curry, 1999 CanLII 692 (SCC) Introduction After the massive train derailment disaster last summer in Lac Mégantic, Quebec, the chief executive of the train company was roundly criticized for what appeared […]
Occupational Health and Safety 3: Ticket Offences at Work
Introduction Most Canadians are familiar with “tickets” for minor offences. If we have personal experience at all with the legal system, it is most likely through receiving the occasional ticket for parking, seat belts, rolling through a stop sign, speeding or some other traffic offence. There are several other regulatory subjects that are enforced by […]
Employers’ Legal Obligations During Major Disasters
Introduction We write this column within a week of the devastating floods in southern Alberta. A few years ago, this column addressed the H1N1 influenza outbreak. Before that was SARS. Alberta has experienced serious tornados and fires. While not ‘natural’ disasters, we remember the potent threat of Y2K as we entered the current millennium with […]
Minimum or Reasonable Notice of Termination?
In 1978 Marek and Gilles started work as salesmen for an Ontario car dealership (HOJ), on an ongoing, indefinite basis. By 1985 they had both been promoted to managerial positions and were earning close to $200,000 (in today’s terms) in total compensation which included commissions, allowances, bonuses and salaries. Then, early in 1985, Marek voluntarily […]
The Essentials of an Employment Contract
Every employment relationship is governed by an employment contract. Many employees believe that because a written employment contract was never signed, no employment contract exists. On the contrary, employment contracts can take the form of a verbal understanding or a lengthy written document between the employer and the employee. In either case, every employment contract […]
Negligent Misrepresentation in an Employment Contract
After 14 years of service with his employer, Norman was having coffee with Albert, a co-worker, and was surprised when Albert told him that the co-worker had been allowed to purchase back some of his years of service in England before commencing employment in Canada. Norman had worked in his native Australia for twenty years […]
