In March 2016 the federal government announced changes to Employment Insurance (EI) rules in Canada.  Effective January 1, 2017, the EI waiting period has been reduced from two (2) weeks to one (1) week by way of amendments to s. 208 of the Employment Insurance Act, SC 1996, c 23.  The EI waiting period change will only impact benefit periods starting on or after January 1, 2017. The reduction of the waiting period applies to…

Powell River Industrial Sheet Metal Contracting Inc. (P.R.I.S.M.) v Kramchynski, 2016 BCSC 883, is a decision from the Supreme Court of British Columbia that dealt with the enforcement of a restrictive covenant in the context of a commercial transaction. The decision stands for the proposition that a court may refuse to enforce a restrictive covenant where an employer fails to satisfy its obligations to the employee. The defendant entered into an agreement for the purchase…

Employer clients often ask during a wrongful or constructive dismissal lawsuit what damages may be awarded.  One relevant consideration  is the common law duty to mitigate.  A wrongfully dismissed employee has a duty to mitigate his or her damages by attempting to find alternate employment.  The question of whether an employee has met his or her duty to mitigate becomes especially relevant in times of economic downturn when employment prospects are sparse.  In light of…

The Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 113 v. Toronto Transit Commission (Use of Social Media Grievance), [2016] O.L.A.A. No. 267 decision deals with the use of social media in the workplace, and to what extent employers are required to manage their accounts in a way that protects their employees. The employer created a Twitter account for the purpose of communicating with customers regarding service inquiries and concerns.  Although most ‘tweets’ were legitimate requests for information, the…

Alberta’s New Democratic Party (NDP) government is moving forward on its 2015 campaign promise to raise minimum wage to $15-per-hour by 2018. The raise to $15-per-hour is being applied incrementally. On October 1, 2015, Alberta’s minimum wage rose from $10.20 to $11.20. For those who serve liquor, the minimum wage rose from $9.20 to $10.70. The next wage increase is scheduled for October, 2016 and will increase the minimum wage by $1 to $12.20-per-hour. The…

The Alberta government recently introduced Bill 4, An Act to Implement a Supreme Court Ruling Governing Essential Services, which proposes to extend the right to strike to certain public-sector workers. Alberta has traditionally banned strikes and lockouts involving most public-sector employees. However, in the 2015 decision Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v Saskatchewan, 2015 SCC 4, the Supreme Court of Canada found that the right to strike is constitutionally protected, and thus struck down Saskatchewan’s essential…

In January 2016, the Supreme Court of British Columbia released its decision in Feldstein v 364 Northern Development Corporation, 2016 BCSC 108. The employee in that case suffered from cystic fibrosis, a chronic, degenerative disease primarily affecting the lungs, since the age of nine. The employee stated that given his condition, he would not have accepted employment unless it included sufficient and appropriate LTD benefits, i.e. a benefit equivalent to a significant portion of his…