COVID-19 Infection Considered an Employment Injury
On September 23, 2021, the Tribunal administratif du travail [Administrative Labour Tribunal] (the “Tribunal”) determined that a COVID-19 infection could constitute an employment injury[1], within the meaning of the Act respecting industrial accidents […]
Favorite
Dec 8 – Employer’s Legal Obligations: Harassment, Bullying, Violence in the Workplace
Date: December 8, 2021 Time: 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM PST Speaker: Lorenzo Lisi Register Here to register for this webinar. This presentation will be an overview of employer's legal obligations with respect to harassment, […]
Favorite
What Does the OLRB Teachers Pandemic Decision Mean for OHSA Appeals?
By: Ryan J. Conlin and Jeremy Schwartz Historically, workers’ compensation law placed a highly restrictive definition on traumatic mental stress injuries, which meant as a practical matter very few stress claims […]
Favorite
OK to Require Medical Exam of Marijuana User’s Fitness for Safety-Sensitive Job
An energy company required safety-sensitive workers to pass pre-assignment drug testing before letting them work at the refinery. The company learned that a journeyman electrician the union sent to the […]
Favorite
Nurses’ Union Lose Bid to Widen COVID-19 N95 Respirator Directive
In the early days of the pandemic, the Ontario Chief Public Health Officer issued a directive that healthcare workers be equipped with N95 respirators to protect against exposure to aerosols […]
Favorite
OK to Fire Safety-Sensitive Worker for Not Being Fit for Duty
A safety-sensitive tree utility worker got fired for flunking his drug test. The Nova Scotia labour standards officer found that there was no just cause to terminate, but the employer […]
Favorite
Failure of Return-to-Work Process Is Not Failure to Accommodate
An injured OR nurse and hospital couldn’t agree on a return-to-work plan. The nurse sued for disability discrimination and failure to accommodate but the Newfoundland Human Rights Commission dismissed the […]
Favorite
Potential Suicide Risks Grounds for Workers Comp Not to Pay for Medical Pot
Does workers comp have to pay for medical marijuana legally prescribed to treat a former prison guard’s work-related post-traumatic stress disordered? After ping-ponging around the workers comp appeals tribunals, a […]
Favorite
No Security Clearance for Employee Involved in Drug Trafficking Incident
During a 2016 traffic stop search, agents found a WestJet employee to be in possession of 164 grams of marijuana. The employee was charged with drug trafficking. And even though […]
Favorite
WHMIS Training & Compliance Game Plan
Take 6 steps to ensure workers exposed to hazardous substances get proper WHMIS training. Many if not most workplaces contain chemical, biological and other substances (called “hazardous products”) that pose health […]
Favorite
Ontario Case Draws New Line on Power of Arbitrator to Review Drug Testing Policies
Arbitrator declines union’s bid to overturn nuclear power plant testing policy based on federal regulations. Labour arbitration boards have served as the primary battlefield in the decades-long war between employers and […]
Favorite
Why You Must Protect Your Workers from Cyberbullying
7 ways failing to prevent online harassment can get you into legal trouble. Myth: Workplace harassment is much less of a challenge now that more people are working from home. Truth: The […]
Favorite
Cyberbullying Prevention Policy
You can't fight digital harassment with an analog policy. Workplace bullying is an old problem with a new face. In the internet age, bullying has become more pervasive and more virulent—all […]
Favorite
What to Do When an Employee Defies Your Mandatory Vaccination Policy
Find out why the worker is refusing before deciding what to do. Before the pandemic, mandatory vaccination policies were rare and limited to sensitive sectors like health care and travel. But […]
Favorite
Failure to Name Prime Contractor Makes Construction Site Owner the Prime
CNESST cited the owner of a construction site of failing, as prime contractor, to ensure that guardrails were installed around a roof terrace elevated more than 3 metres above the […]
Favorite
Employer Must Prove It Had Just Cause to Fire Employee for Medical Absence
A secretary who was absent from work due to illness emailed his supervisor a note from a nurse practitioner simply stating that he had to miss work for 4 weeks […]
Favorite
Bar Owner Fined $50,000 for Customer’s Drunk Driving
Video camera footage clearly showed that the customer served 5 20-ounce beers in the course of an hour was already visibly drunk when he entered the bar. So, when the […]
Favorite
Town Employee Can Sue Both the Town and GN for Sex Harassment
In March, a Nunavut court ruled that a government employee could sue both her employer, the Hamlet of Pangnirtung, and the Government of Nunavut for failing to protect her from […]
Favorite
Prime Contractor Fined $100,000 for Forestry Worker’s Death
A forestry worker was killed when the log loader he was walking past swung, pinning him between the loader counterbalance and the cut slope next to the road. The victim […]
Favorite
First Aid, Other OHS Violations Cost Pipeline Contractor Over $254,000
A prime contractor at a pipeline right-of-way worksite was fined $254,697 for multiple offences, including repeat violations. Among other things, the firm failed to ensure that ensure that trees hazardous […]
Favorite
7-Eleven Fined $340,000 for Not Protecting Night Workers from Violence
After visiting two 7-Eleven stores, WorkSafeBC inspectors spotted several violations in the company’s violence prevention program for late-night retail, including: i. Workers working alone at night weren’t wearing a personal […]
Favorite
Restaurant Ordered to Close for Not Verifying Customers’ Vaccination
Disobedience with COVID-19 public health orders is not an option. Just ask the restaurant that Fraser Health Authorities ordered to close for failing to comply with orders requiring restaurants to […]
Favorite
Employer Fined $95,000 for Powered Mobile Equipment Mishap
A rink chiller being transported from a mechanical room to an outdoor temporary storage area tipped and fell onto a worker, causing serious injury. The employer was fined $95,000 after […]
Favorite
Firing Union Nurse for Alcohol Addiction Is a Labour, Not a Human Rights Case
A case that has drawn national attention has now gone all the way to the nation’s highest court. It began when a home care aide came to work drunk. She […]
Favorite
COVID-19 Infection Risks Don’t Justify Unilateral Staffing Cuts
To minimize risk of COVID-19 infection, a ferry operator reduced the number of crew personnel below the minimum staffing levels required by the collective agreement. The operator claimed that the […]
Favorite
OHS Tribunal Nixes Prison Guards’ Fire Safety Work Refusal
A group of 85 prison guards at a maximum-security institution began an OHS work refusal after the prison eliminated the in-house fire brigade, contending that they’d be in mortal danger […]
Favorite
Dec 1 – COVID-19 Status Update: Workplace Precautions, Vaccinations, and Where We Go From Here
Date: December 1, 2021 Time: 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM PST Speaker: Preston Parsons Register Here to register for this webinar. This session will look at the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic for your […]
Favorite
Stress at Work Special Report
The nature of work is changing at whirlwind speed. Perhaps now more than ever before, job stress poses a threat to the health of workers and, in turn, to the health […]
Favorite
Ergonomics Solutions to the Potential Pitfalls of Hybrid Offices
As we eagerly return to work in the office, many organizations are considering hybrid working models. For some, this simply means working at home a few days a week and working […]
Favorite