LAWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Transportation Safety

Oct 10: Motor Vehicle Act amendments that took effect in January allow peace officers to immediately suspend the license of a driver who fails a roadside screening test as an alternative to laying criminal charges. But New Brunswick has now revised its procedures for immediate roadside license suspensions in response to a Sept. 22 court decision finding the current process unfair.

Industry Challenges

Sep 22: Newly tabled Bill C-237 amends the federal Fisheries Act governing the management of Atlantic groundfish fisheries, provides for harmonizing the close times across the Maritimes provinces of Canadian fisheries waters of the Atlantic Ocean used for recreational fishing of groundfish.

Workers’ Comp

Oct 2: WorkSafeNB announced that it’s keeping the 2026 average assessment rate at $1.10 per $100 of payroll, the second lowest in Canada. The agency will also issue $53.2 million in performance refunds to eligible employers, with refunds over $1,000 to be issued by cheque and refunds under $1,000 as a credit to the employer’s account.

Workers’ Comp

Oct 9: October 9^th is the deadline to comment on proposed changes to WorkSafeNB’s work-related mental stress coverage rules (Policy 21-103 Conditions for Entitlement – Traumatic Mental Stress). Key issues: criteria for accepting traumatic psychological injury claims, what constitutes a traumatic event, and when the PTSD coverage presumption apply.

Action Point: Find out about workers’ comp coverage of PTSD and mental stress.

Workers’ Comp

Sep 24: WorkSafeNB revised Policy 21-506 setting the rules and criteria for making lump-sum payouts of pension and surviving spouse benefits to injured workers or their spouses.

Environmental

Nov 27: That’s the revised deadline to complete an online survey providing input on the question of what, if anything, New Brunswick should do to update its Clean Air Act. The original deadline was October 16. The government will issue a What We Heard Report summarizing the survey results in December or January.

CASES

Workplace Harassment: Firing Coach Without Progressive Discipline Costs UNB +$50K

The University of New Brunswick fired its women’s volleyball team coach in response to complaints of abusive treatment and harassment by 5 players and a trainer. UNB claimed it had just cause and a clear right to terminate his contract at any time during the term. But while acknowledging its proper investigation of the complaints, the court faulted UNB for terminating the coach without first trying to change his behaviour via progressive discipline, especially since some of the players filed their complaints only after the coach told them they might be benched next season. Result: It ordered UNB to pay $50,920 in damages plus the coach’s legal costs [Schick v University of New Brunswick, 2025 NBKB 207 (CanLII), September 19, 2025].

Action Point: The Schick case serves as a reminder that how employers respond to workplace harassment complaints is just as important as what the accused actually did or didn’t do. The fatal flaw in this case was not even considering the possibility of progressive discipline. The one thing that’s true in all cases is that companies need an effective Workplace Harassment Compliance Game Plan that provides for investigating complaints and objectively and reasonably assessing the findings in making decisions about discipline.