Employment Law Tracker – April 2024

WorkSafeBC is proposing significant amendments to British Columbia's Occupational Health and Safety Regulation that would fundamentally reshape how employers address workplace harassment, violence, and psychological health. The proposed changes introduce expanded definitions, new prevention program requirements, and obligations to identify and control psychosocial hazards. These amendments could require most B.C. employers to substantially revise their existing workplace policies and procedures.

Keeping up with employment law in Canada used to be a marathon. Now, it's a sprint. For employers in Québec, Ontario, and British Columbia, a significant volume of new legislation...

Canada's federal government has announced a $3.5 billion rapid response support package in anticipation of retaliatory tariffs against the United States, introducing new temporary employment insurance measures and workforce retention programs. The package extends EI benefits, waives waiting periods, and creates funding opportunities for employers to retain and retrain workers rather than implement large-scale layoffs.

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice recently provided important guidance regarding the repudiation of employment agreements and common law notice entitlements...

Canada's gig economy continues to grow steadily, with nearly half a million Canadians now engaged in this type of work. Many businesses rely on this form of highly flexible labour...

On March 1, 2018, An Act to amend the Holidays Act (Remembrance Day) received royal assent and became law.

Ontario employers continue to face a rapidly evolving employment law landscape. Recent appellate decisions have provided much needed guidance on termination clauses and equity compensation, while proposed federal legislation signals a significant shift in the treatment of non-compete agreements. Below is a summary of several notable developments from 2026 so far.

Bill C-39, the Building Canada Strong Act, proposes significant amendments to the Canada Labour Code that will reshape collective bargaining timelines, ministerial intervention powers, and union certification processes for federally regulated employers. The legislation introduces new conditions for government intervention in labour disputes, accelerates bargaining deadlines for certain collective agreements, and expands obligations for airport service providers.

When workplace investigators face difficult decisions, many default to marking allegations as "unsubstantiated" to avoid risk. However, this seemingly safe approach carries significant organizational costs, undermines complainant trust, and often stems from insufficient training in credibility assessment and the balance of probabilities standard.

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has applied the Baker v. Van Dolder's Home Team framework to uphold a termination clause under the Canada Labour Code, rejecting a plaintiff's claim for common law reasonable notice. This decision demonstrates how courts will now interpret employment agreements by examining the parties' objective intentions rather than conducting technical word-by-word analysis of contractual provisions.

Municipal elections across Ontario are scheduled to take place on October 24, 2022. Employers are obligated to provide their employees with sufficient time off work to vote.

On March 9, 2023, British Columbia's Bill 2, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Act, received Royal Assent. As a result, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation...

As we previously wrote about here, on May 13, 2024, the Ontario government introduced Bill 194, the Strengthening Cyber Security and Building Trust in the Public Sector Act...

On May 16, 2025, the Ontario Court of Appeal in Bertsch v Datastealth Inc., 2025 ONCA 379 (CanLII) upheld a termination clause limiting employees' termination entitlements to the minimum amounts...

The recent decision of Timmins v. Artisan Cells ("Timmins") is in line with existing case law, and represents a sobering reminder of the significant potential liability for employers...

The Ontario Ministry of Labour has published a new version of its employment standards poster. The newest version of the poster, Version 9.0, is available for download in multiple languages here.

The temporary policy allowing international students to work more than 20 hours per week off campus has expired effective April 30, 2024.

Hon. Marc Miller, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, (the "Minister") recently announced upcoming changes to the International Student Work Program...

In Ontario, managerial/supervisory employees, among others, are exempt from the overtime provisions of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 ("ESA").

Toronto Public Health and Peel Public Health announced today that they will issue orders under Section 22