The Supreme Court of Canada recently released an important
decision in Tessier Ltée v Québec (Commission de
la santé et de la sécurité du travail).
The case is important because it clarifies the test used to
determine whether the labour relations of a business that would
normally come within provincial jurisdiction fall within federal
jurisdiction because of the business's association with a
federally regulated enterprise. This is known as derivative or
secondary instance federal jurisdiction.
Determining federal jurisdiction
Derivative jurisdiction arises when the work being done by the
employees in question is integral to a federal work, undertaking or
business. Typically, derivative federal jurisdiction will be found
in one of two situations: (1) when the services provided to the
federal undertaking form the exclusive or principal part of the
related work's activities; and (2) when the services provided
to the federal undertaking are performed by employees who
