De Bousquet PC of De Bousquet PC

With the proliferation of Internet job postings has come a proliferation of Temporary Help Agencies. Employers pay these companies to find temporary workers for their business. Unfortunately, some employers have found that by working with Temporary Help Agencies, they can steal, defraud, and intimidate employees without consequence. Employer-endorsed intimidation and wage theft, an ongoing issue in Ontario, is finally getting the attention it deserves. In the 2020-2021 period, the Ontario government estimates that over 4.2 million dollars in unpaid wages were owed to over 10,000 temporary workers. These funds were pocketed by both large and small employers who abused the…

It’s that time of year again. Every year, when October 1st rolls around, there is a chance that the minimum wage rates may increase based on the inflation rate. Nearly a million workers—around 942,400—benefitted from bigger paycheques this month. The Ontario government increased the minimum wage to $16.55 an hour, up from $15.50 an hour—a 6.8% pay raise for low-income workers. With some quick math, that works out to an increase of almost $2,200 per year for someone who puts in a 40-hour work week. This new minimum wage is the highest of any province in the country (though it…

Background and Decision A recent decision by Arbitrator Misra held in favor of the union Healthcare, Office and Professional Employees Union, Local 2220. The employer Chartwell Housing Reit introduced a mandatory vaccination policy which included their right to terminate employees who refused to comply. The Arbitrator held that the policy was unreasonable and took the following provisions of the collective agreement between the employer and employee into consideration. The first relevant provision was that an employer must discuss changes with the union prior to making any meaningful change to workplace rules. The second relevant provision was that working conditions, benefits,…

Mandatory Vaccination Policies Must Be Reasonable The Power Worker’s Union (“PWU”) has won a victory for unions seeking to challenge employers’ mandatory vaccination policies. On November 11, 2021 Arbitrator Stout found that aspects of the Electrical Safety Authority’s (“ESA”) mandatory covid-19 vaccination policy to be unreasonable in the circumstances. This decision comes only two days after Arbitrator von Veh upheld a similar vaccination policy in United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Canada Local 333 v. Paragon Protection Ltd. (Paragon) that had been implemented at Paragon Protection Ltd. There are key findings in Arbitrator Stout’s decision that will inform future attempts…

Bill 27, the Working for Workers Act, has passed in the Ontario Legislature. The Act will reform several statutes of Ontario, including the Employment Standards Act (ESA). Most importantly, the Ontario Government has changed the rules surrounding work-related communications after working hours, and a new ban on most non-compete agreements. Disconnecting From Work The last 2 years have seen a huge increase in the number of workers working from home. To curb the encroachment of work on people’s lives, Ontario has also passed a new provision that requires employers to write and implement policies on “disconnecting from work”. Disconnecting from…

Update: On the afternoon of Friday, October 29, Justice Dunphy of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice lifted the temporary injunction that had paused the termination of a group of unvaccinated employees at UHN. Justice Dunphy held that the Court did not have the jurisdiction to grant the relief sought by the claimants. In his decision, he held that the unions alone had the authority to bring a claim of this nature and that the dispute should be heard through the labour relations system. Though this update answers some questions about the jurisdiction of the Court where unions are involved,…