The Federal Skilled Worker Program (the “FSWP”) is the largest program for economic migration to Canada. The program has however often been criticized as leaving new permanent residents unprepared to succeed in Canada. The federal government has accordingly been working to reform the program in order to ensure success for those who arrive under this…
The Ontario government has released draft amendments to the Integrated Accessibility Standards under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). The public is invited to provide its comments on the draft amendments by October 1, 2012. The draft amendments include relatively straightforward revisions / clarifications to the existing standards and, more importantly, offer a…
The British Columbia Court of Appeal recently released a judgment which overturned a British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal decision which had held that partners in a law firm could be treated as employees for the purpose of human rights protection. The case involved an “equity” partner, Michael McCormick, in the Vancouver office of the law…
I just finished reading the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario’s decision in Lagana v. Saputo Dairy Products. Among other things, this case shows that employers may need to be more careful in allowing employees with medical restrictions to work “as tolerated”. The overall scenario is no doubt familiar to many employers, which I will abridge…
A common and difficult situation that faces employers is how to approach terminating an employee when some other event raises the risk that the termination will result in a human rights complaint. We often see cases in which an employee is terminated while off on maternity leave or sick leave or shortly after returning from…