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.
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 →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. They assume that because the law doesn’t...
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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