Canada: Employment Litigation/ Tribunals

In a recent decision, an Arbitrator considered whether a long-service employee who threatened to kill her supervisor should be reinstated. While Arbitrator Rogers found the employee's conduct constituted serious misconduct warranting significant discipline, dismissal was determined to be excessive in the circumstances.

The Ontario Court of Appeal has issued a landmark decision addressing the enforceability of employment agreement termination provisions, resolving conflicting lower court rulings in two cases involving similar termination clauses. The Court rejected the increasingly technical approach to interpreting employment agreements and instead applied modern principles of contractual interpretation to determine whether termination provisions properly limited employee entitlements to those set out in the Employment

The Ontario Court of Appeal has delivered a significant ruling on employment contract termination clauses, addressing whether language permitting termination "at any time" or "for any reason" violates employment standards legislation. This decision resolves years of conflicting interpretations and provides crucial guidance on how courts should interpret termination provisions in employment agreements.

An Alberta court case examines whether whistleblower investigations can maintain witness anonymity while still providing respondents a fair opportunity to defend themselves. The decision establishes a framework for balancing confidentiality protections with procedural fairness requirements, analyzing five key factors that determine when identifying information must be disclosed to those facing allegations.

Canadian law has evolved significantly since the Supreme Court's 1989 decision in Brooks v. Canada Safeway Ltd., which recognized pregnancy discrimination as a form of sex discrimination. Yet despite comprehensive human rights protections across federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictions, pregnancy discrimination continues to appear before tribunals nationwide, manifesting in terminations, hiring refusals, reduced hours, and failures to accommodate pregnancy-related workplace needs.

The Ontario Labour Relations Board awarded over $195,000 to a former employee after finding her termination violated workplace safety legislation by constituting reprisal for filing a harassment complaint. The decision examines how employers can face substantial financial liability when adverse employment actions are connected to employees exercising statutory workplace rights, including compensation for lost wages, mental distress, and injury to dignity.

Third parties almost never get a seat at the arbitration table, but every so often an employee insists on weighing in against their own union – and is sometimes granted standing to speak or be represented...

The Alberta Court of King’s Bench recently released its decision in Tudor v Accurate Screen Ltd., 2026 ABKB 237 (Tudor v Accurate). In the decision, Justice Yamauchi dismissed...

The Ontario Court of Appeal recently examined the evidentiary requirements for establishing just cause termination and clarified how mitigation income affects wrongful dismissal damages.