Graham v. 3022366 Canada Inc., 2011 HRTO 1470

Sharpe v. Boston Pizza and another (No. 2), 2011 BCHRT 135

Campbell v. Medallion Wine Marketing and others (No. 2), 2011 BCHRT 110

In Lewis v. Terrace Tourism Society, 2010 BCCA 346, the majority of the BC Court of
Appeal found that the Executive Director ("ED") of the Tourism Terrace Society (the "Society") was constructively dismissed when the Society took steps to dissolve its operations while she was on maternity leave.

Background

The ED commenced her employment with the Society in May 2004.

At the end of 2006, she started a maternity leave that was scheduled to run until January 2008. An interim ED was hired to replace her.

Two weeks after the ED commenced her maternity leave, the Society determined that it was in dire financial straits. It took several immediate steps to deal with the situation, including laying off the interim executive director and removing the ED's signing authority on its bank accounts.

A month later, the Society passed a "dissolution" resolution in which it voted to:  read more »

Only 1 in 5 Canadian employers offered "top up" or supplemental payments to employees on maternity/parental leave in 2008, according to a new Statisics Canada article ("Employer top-ups"). Key findings from the study include:  read more »

The federal government will be introducing legislation tomorrow that will allow self-employed individuals access to maternity and parental leave benefits under the Employment Insurance program, according to this Globe and Mail story.

Gilmar, Melanie v. Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation Board of Education, 2009 CHRT 34

(For a previous decision in which a federally regulated employer was found to have discriminated against a pregnant teacher when it did not renew her contract, see Martin v. Saultaux Band [2002] C.H.R.D. No. 10.)

The issue in British Columbia Securities Commission v. Burke, 2008 BCSC 1244 was whether:

• a birth father's parental leave must be completed within 52 weeks after the child's birth, or
• the leave only needs to begin within 52 weeks after the child's birth.

Section 51(1)(c) of the BC Employment Standards Act provides:

An employee who requests parental leave under this section is entitled to:

- - -

for a birth father, up to 37 consecutive weeks of unpaid leave beginning after the child's birth and within 52 weeks after that event.

The Employment Standards Tribunal had determined that the latter interpretation noted above was the correct one. On judicial review, the Court upheld the Tribunal's decision.  read more »

Evans v. University of British Columbia, 2007 BCHRT 348; aff'd 2008 BCSC 1026

Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission v. P.S.S. Professional Salon Services Inc., 2008 CanLII 32715 (S.C.C.)