July 2016

As an employee, you have a right to a workplace free from harassment and unwanted sexual advances. Unfortunately, as this case illustrates, women still face a disproportionally high risk of sexual harassment and assault, especially in the restaurant, bar and entertainment industries. The case below illustrates the seriousness of such conduct, especially when abuse by somebody in a position of authority is involved. In this case the applicant, De Anna Granes, worked at the respondent’s restaurant as a server prior to the incident. [1] One night, one of the co-owners became inebriated after consuming a number of drinks at the bar and…

In a recent striking case, the Ontario Court of Appeal more than doubled the award granted to a deaf worker who was forced to resign from her job due to her employer’s “campaign of abuse”. In this shocking case Vicky Strudwick worked for a polling firm for a salary close to the federal minimum wage for over a decade. The Court found that, shortly after becoming deaf due to a viral infection, the plaintiff’s supervisors decided to make her quit by making her job environment intolerable and started a campaign designed to make her feel humiliated and unwanted due to…

Recently the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by the employer in Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board v. Fair therefore reaffirming the significant 2013 decision to reinstate an employee after an 11-year absence with full back pay and damages. The case should serve as a warning to employers regarding the scope of accommodation required from them in cases of employee disability. Employers have a duty to accommodate sick or injured workers to the point of undue hardship. In this case, an employee of the School Board took time off work and was subsequently diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder and depression, which resulted…

In the recent decision of Gagnon & Associates Inc. the Court reminds us that both employers and employees have the obligation to provide reasonable notice of intention to terminate the employment relationship. In this case, two long-term, key, but unhappy, employees tendered their resignations to their employer with immediate effect after being offered a job at a competing company. The employees together were responsible for over 60% of the employer’s sales and so their immediate departure had a greatly negative impact on the performance of the company, which was not able to find replacements for some time. The employer filed suit…