December 14, 2016

Simon published another article on First Reference Blog. The article entitled “Employee Termination Deemed Reprisal” which explored the prohibition against terminating or reprising against employees who exercise their right to refuse unsafe work under the provisions of the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act. In the article Simon considers the recent decision of Podobnik v….

November 17, 2016

Simon published another article on First Reference Blog. The article entitled “Fresh Consideration and Employment Contracts” examines two recent cases, the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision in Holland v. Hostopia.com Inc., 2015 ONCA 762 and a recent trial decision in Gibbons v. BB Blank Inc., 2016 CanLII 44181 on how companies can make employment contracts…

October 17, 2016

Simon published another article on First Reference Blog entitled “Refusing a 50 km commute not a failure to mitigate”, where he reviewed a recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision where the court held that the Plaintiff’s decision not to explore a new job that was 50 kms away from her house did not constitute a…

September 15, 2016

Simon published another article on First Reference Blog entitled “Huge wrongful dismissal damage award overruled by Ontario Court of Appeal on basis of misapplication of law of just cause dismissal”. The case examines how an teacher was awarded a 12 month package, long term disability benefits for depression that arose after the termination and over…

August 11, 2016

Simon published another article on First Reference Blog entitled “Arbitrator upholds just cause termination in part on negative Facebook post”. In this case, the employee posted extremely negative comments about his Manager and Employer after he was terminated for just cause. The Arbitrator upheld his termination and commented that the negative comments in his Facebook…

July 14, 2016

Simon Published another article entitled “Ontario Court of Appeal suggest deference to trial judge in interpretation of termination clause” in First Reference Blogs about a recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision that interpreted a termination clause and whether or not the clause rebutted the presumption of common law notice and limited the employee’s entitlements to…

June 9, 2016

Simon Published another article entitled “Motion for summary judgement raises questions about efficiency of pre-trial resolution” on First Reference Blog. This case explored the common issue of assessing an employee’s common law notice period at the termination of employment and the efficiencies involved in settling the matter through voluntary negotiations or pursuing the matter by…

May 12, 2016

Simon published another blog post to First Reference Blogs. In this article Simon provided an update on the Ministry of Labour’s OHSA and ESA blitzes that target specific industries and parts of the province to ensure compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Employment Standards Act. A link to the comment can…

April 14, 2016

Simon published another article on First Reference Blogs entitled: “Small claims court rules termination clause that violates ESA in future is unenforceable”. Simon explores a recent Divisional Court of Ontario case upholding a decision from the Small Claims court which confirmed that if a termination clause could be non-compliant with the Ontario Employment Standards Act,…

March 17, 2016

Simon published another article to First Reference entitled: Ontario Human Rights Commission released updated policy on “preventing discrimination based on Creed”. This article explores the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s recent 173 page report that offers guidance on how businesses and employers can avoid committing discrimination on the basis of creed. It is timely given the…