Employment

“You’re Fired” – What to Consider Before Terminating for Just Cause

If an employer terminates an employee for “just cause”, the employee is not entitled to notice of termination or pay in lieu of notice. ...

Sometimes it’s Personal - Director and Officer Liability for Employee Wages

It’s a fundamental building block of Canadian law that a corporation is a separate legal entity from its directors, officers and...

Prohibited Action Complaints to WorkSafeBC – Employers, Tread Carefully, and Be Informed in Advance

Prohibited Action Complaints (PACs) by employees to WorkSafeBC have become increasingly common. PACs are notoriously difficult to...

When the Road Ends – Calculating Severance Due Upon Termination

As employment lawyers, we spend a lot of time with our employer clients to ensure they understand their obligations to employees upon...

Probationary Periods - Perils and Pitfalls

There is often a lack of clarity about how employers can implement and use ‘probationary’ periods, and whether having a probationary...

Unions are Employers, Too

If asked about the role of a union, most people first think of a union as a champion for employees, and an adversary of employers. Unions...

Update! Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy

Our previous blog advised of Prime Minister Trudeau's announcement of a 75% wage subsidy to help businesses affected by the COVID-19...

Some Relief in Sight? 75% Wage Subsidy for Small-Medium Businesses

The ongoing uncertainty from the COVID-19 pandemic continues to keep Canadians up at night. Many business owners breathed a sigh of...

I Can't Get EI - Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB)

Our blog post from two days ago described the expected federal initiatives to assist working Canadians, including the self-employed, who...

I Can't Get EI - Now What?

* DUE TO QUICKLY EVOLVING CIRCUMSTANCES, the information in the post below should be read in combination with our update, HERE. There are...

Cannabis at Work - How Do We Deal?

Although recreational cannabis was just legalized in Canada (in October of 2018), dealing with cannabis in the workplace is not entirely...

Spot the Difference: Contractor or Employee?

More and more, companies are using contractors instead of employees, for many reasons. From the company's perspective, it may want to...

6 Strategies to Improve Your Workplace Investigations

The purpose of an investigation, at its core, is simply to find out what happened. It gives an organization the factual basis to make a...