Amir Mazinani v. Zoran International, Inc., 2010 ONSC 4582

Hadiya Roderique, a lawyer at Fasken Martineau in Ontario, has written a bulletin entitled "Background Check Program a Reasonable Exercise of Management Rights" (August 4, 2010).

The bulletin provides a case summary of the decision of Arbitrator Watters in Re Diageo Canada Inc. and C.A.W.-Canada, Local 2098 (January 20 2010).

Andrea York, a lawyer at Blakes, wrote a paper entitled, "Privacy In Practice: Top 10 Workplace Q&As" for the Six-Minute Employment Lawyer conference that was presented by The Law Society of Upper Canada in Toronto on June 15, 2010. 

The 10 questions she addresses are:  read more »

In Link v. Venture Steel Inc. and Ruben Rivas, 2010 ONCA 144 the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld a decision in which a former Vice-President of Sales was awarded more than $4 million in damages, most of which related to company shares the employer had improperly purchased, pursuant to a Shareholders' Agreement, at the time it dismissed the employee for just cause.

The case also addressed the issue of how non-competition and non-solicitation provisions in a Shareholders Agreement will impact on a court's analysis of whether an employee's mitigation efforts were reasonable.

Lawyers at Fasken Martineau has prepared a summary of the case ("Beware the Perils of Firing Employee-Shareholders", June 22, 2010) that can be found here. 

In an April 2009 post, I reported on the pending legislation in Ontario - Bill 37 - which will amend the Child and Family Services Act (Ontario) and imposes a positive obligation on any person in Ontario, including employers and employees, to report child pornography.

An article in the May 3, 2010 edition of the Canadian HR Reporter - which recently landed on my desk - points out that Ontario is just one of four Canadian provinces to take action in this regard. To summarize from the article (and other sources):  read more »

Duong v. Linamar Corporation, 2010 ONSC 3159

Blakes has published an article entitled "Moving Forward with Phase One of Ontario Pension Reform" that addresses Bill 236, the Pension Benefits Amendment Act, 2010.

The article states that, "There are plan amendments in a number of areas which are required or advisable as a result of Bill 236", which fall under the following headings:  read more »

R. v. Conway, 2010 SCC 22

Mary Beth Currie at Bennett Jones LLP in Toronto has written a paper entitled, "Workplace Harassment Investigations Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act" (June 2010).

The paper addresses whether harassment investigation policies developed under the Ontario Human Rights Code will satisfy the requirements of Bill 168, which amends the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Portions of this paper were presented at the Ontario Bar Association/Law Society of Upper Canada conference "Workplace Violence and Harassment: Advising Clients on Amendments to Bill 168" held on March 10, 2010.

In an important decision that came out on May 28, 2010 - Piresferreira v. Ayotte, 2010 ONCA 384 - the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that employees cannot sue their employers for the tort of negligent infliction of mental suffering, at least in Ontario.

Background

At the time of the incident that led to the termination of her employment with Bell Mobility, the plaintiff, Ms. Pieresferreira, was an Account Manager, had 10 years service, was 60 years olds, and had received mostly excellent performance reviews.

As set out by the Court of Appeal, her supervisor, Mr. Ayotte, was a "critical, demanding, loud and aggressive manager" who was known to "swear at employees, had a temper and would bang his fist on the table to make a point" (para. 5).  read more »