Articles

CBA Members

Perspective

CBA Labour and Employment Law Section

CBA Labour and Employment Law Section articles are published under the banner Perspectives. Members interested in posting articles are encouraged to send them to the Section’s editor.

Editor: Valerie Dixon

Today
Today

Determining wrongful dismissal damages in fast-track litigation

  • September 14, 2015
  • Thomas A. Roper, Q.C.

How do you assess damages in cases of wrongful dismissal that benefit from summary trials or fast-track litigation when only the amount of reasonable notice is in dispute &ndash and the case comes to court before reasonable notice period has expired? Thomas A. Roper, Q.C., of Roper Greyell, says Markoulakis v. SNC-Lavalin Inc. is instructive in these cases.

Labour & Employment

Just cause and dependent contractors

  • November 15, 2014
  • David S. Louie

The fact that your contractors ostensibly work for themselves does not make them independent. David Louie, an articled student at Roper Greyell, reviews a case where the British Columbia Supreme Court determined that a contractor in a position of economic dependence vis-Ă -vis the defendant was entitled to reasonable notice of termination.

Labour & Employment

Proving just cause: MacBurnie v. Halterm Container Terminal

  • November 15, 2014
  • Rick Dunlop and Jessica Morrison

Terminating a long-service employee for cause is a recipe for lengthy litigation if the employer doesn’t give that employee every opportunity to rectify the situation. Rick D. and Jessica M. show how Halterm Container Terminal built its case.

Labour & Employment

Does sexual misconduct in the workplace justify dismissal?

  • November 15, 2014
  • Fiona McFarlane

Courts remain split on the question of whether sexual misconduct is a firing offence. It’s a timely topic in the wake of the Jian Ghomeshi allegations, and those made against MPs and staffers on Parliament Hill.

Labour & Employment

Ensuring the punishment fits the crime: proportionality and just cause

  • November 15, 2014
  • Stephen Goodwin

The definition of “just cause” is never as straightforward as employers would like, says Stephen Goodwin, a partner with Hicks Morley in Waterloo, Ont. Recent decisions continue to underline the importance of the contextual and proportional approach…

Labour & Employment

Two recent cases clarify just cause terminations

  • November 15, 2014
  • Gordon Forsyth

Just-cause job security is one of the most important collective agreement provisions in unionized workplaces. Gordon Forsyth of Pink Larkin in Halifax looks at two recent cases providing informative interpretations of just-cause protection.

Labour & Employment

Recent case law on injunctions in employment law

  • June 30, 2014
  • Fiona H. McFarlane

RJR-MacDonald Inc. v Canad remains the starting point and litmus test for employers concerned about ex-employees stealing clients. Fiona H. McFarlane of Alliance Lex Corporation studies how that test was applied in some recent cases…

Labour & Employment