Browse through brief employment and labor law updates from around the globe. Contact a Littler attorney for more information or view our global locations.

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Ontario Appeal Court Finds Independent Contractors Must Mitigate Upon Early Termination of Fixed-term Agreement

Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency

Authors: Rhonda B. Levy, Knowledge Management Counsel, and Monty Verlint, Partner – Littler LLP

In Monterosso v. Metro Freightliner Hamilton Inc., 2023 ONCA 413, the Ontario Court of Appeal found that independent contractors have a duty to mitigate their damages upon the early termination of a fixed-term agreement.

British Columbia Appeal Court Finds Employer Vicariously Liable for Employee’s Willful Violation of Customers’ Privacy

Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency

Authors: Rhonda B. Levy, Knowledge Management Counsel, and Monty Verlint, Partner – Littler LLP

In Insurance Corporation of British Columbia v. Ari, 2023 BCCA 331, the British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA) confirmed that an employer may be found vicariously liable when its employee violates Section 1 of the province’s Privacy Act (Act), provided the employee’s conduct is “sufficiently related” to conduct authorized by the employer. Section 1 of the Act provides that it is a statutory tort for a person, willfully and without a claim of right, to violate the privacy of another.

Ontario, Canada, Appeal Court Refuses to Impose Constructive Trust Over Proceeds of Sale of Defrauding Employee's Wife's Property

Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency

Authors: Rhonda B. Levy, Knowledge Management Counsel, and Monty Verlint, Partner – Littler LLP

Sase Aggregate Ltd. v. Langdon, 2023 ONCA 554, demonstrates the process an employer may be expected to undertake to recover employee-stolen funds when the proceeds of the fraud are traced to the assets of a “stranger to the fraud.”

Ontario, Canada: Licensing Framework for Temporary Help Agencies and Recruiters in Force July 1, 2023

New Regulation or Official Guidance

Authors: Rhonda B. Levy, Knowledge Management Counsel, and Monty Verlint, Partner – Littler LLP

In December 2021, Ontario passed Bill 27, Working for Workers Act, 2021, which amended the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) to, among other things, establish a licensing regime for temporary help agencies and recruiters. These amendments did not come into force immediately because the licensing framework first had to be prescribed by Regulation. On June 10, 2023, new Regulations were passed to establish the licensing framework [namely, Reg. 99/23 (Licensing – Temporary Help Agencies and Recruiters), Reg. 101/23 (Termination and Severance of Employment), and Reg. 100/23 (Penalties and Reciprocal Enforcement), and came into force on July 1, 2023.

Canada Adds Exemptions from Hours of Work Requirements for Certain Employees in Certain Sectors

New Regulation or Official Guidance

Authors: Rhonda B. Levy, Knowledge Management Counsel, and Monty Verlint, Partner – Littler LLP

On August 16, 2023, Canada published Regulation SOR/2023-180 under the Canada Labour Code (CLC), which exempts certain classes of employees in the banking, telecommunications and broadcasting, rail and airline sectors from specified hours of work requirements in the CLC. The amendments related to the banking, telecommunications and broadcasting, and rail sectors come into force on January 4, 2024, while the amendments related to the air sector come into force on June 4, 2024.