Practical guidance for Ontario employers on workplace investigations, termination, accommodation, ESA compliance, and labour relations. Written by Scott Tracze, Q.ARB, 15 years of Ontario and federal labour relations experience.
In Baker v. Van Dolder's Home Team Inc., 2026 ONCA 568, the Court of Appeal upheld termination clauses allowing dismissal at any time. The decision is good news for employers who wrote their contracts carefully, and the reason it went that way is not the one the headlines are giving...
Read the full article →An HR compliance audit in Ontario is not a one-time project you complete when you hire your first employee. It is an annual obligation. The ESA, OHSA, OHRC, AODA, and privacy-related requirements...
Read the full article →Constructive Dismissal in Ontario: How Employers Inadvertently Create Claims. An Ontario employment law insight from Aegis 360 HR.
Read the full article →What Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act requires when a workplace harassment complaint arrives, and how to run an investigation that holds up.
Read the full article →A union organizing Ontario employer situation does not announce itself with a formal memo. One morning, management hears that a union has been signing membership cards. By the time...
Read the full article →An HRTO application response for Ontario employers is not optional, and the margin for error is thin. When your organization receives a Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario application, the clock...
Read the full article →The duty to accommodate Ontario employer undue hardship question comes up constantly in HR offices across this province, and the answer is almost always the same: employers stop far too early or...
Read the full article →Receiving an HRTO application is not the end of the world, but the first thirty days shape everything that follows. Most employers spend those days doing things that make the eventual outcome worse.
Read the full article →When a Ministry of Labour inspector calls, most employers respond in ways that make the outcome worse. The inspection is a legal process with defined rights and obligations on both sides. Understanding it changes how you respond.
Read the full article →Ontario employers who misclassify employees as independent contractors face retroactive ESA entitlements, CRA source deduction liability, and common law termination exposure. The contract is not the determining factor. The day-to-day reality of the relationship is.
Read the full article →In Ontario, the employment contract includes more than the written offer letter. What hiring managers say before the paper is signed can create enforceable obligations, extend reasonable notice, and void the termination clause entirely.
Read the full article →A role change, pay cut, or restructuring can be constructive dismissal in Ontario, even when the employer had a legitimate business reason for the change. The legal test turns on whether the change was fundamental and whether the employee consented.
Read the full article →Progressive discipline in Ontario is not spelled out in the Employment Standards Act, 2000, and that trips up a lot of employers. Skipping the steps before a termination is where the legal risk builds.
Read the full article →A Ministry of Labour complaint Ontario employer situations create is not a suggestion to respond when convenient. The moment an Employment Standards Officer (ESO) contacts your ...
Read the full article →Just cause termination in Ontario is harder to establish than most employers expect. The standard requires more than serious misconduct: a contextual analysis, a proper investigation, and a proportionate response. Most just-cause decisions that end up in court were avoidable.
Read the full article →ESA termination pay is one of the most frequently misunderstood areas of Ontario employment law. Most employers know they need to pay something when they let someone go. Fewer understand what that something actually includes.
Read the full article →The OHSA requires Ontario employers to investigate workplace harassment complaints. It does not require a third-party investigator. But there are circumstances where conducting the investigation internally is not appropriate, and in some situations it is precisely what the HRTO will use against you.
Read the full article →The employer's first 48 hours after receiving a workplace harassment complaint determine whether they are in a defensible position or not. What happens in those initial hours, and what does not happen, sets the trajectory for everything that follows.
Read the full article →Employment law changes, compliance reminders, and investigation guidance, written for Ontario employers, not HR departments.
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