Osler Hoskin and Harcourt LLP is appointing Andrea Boctor as a partner in its pensions and benefits group. Boctor’s practice encompasses all areas of pensions and benefits law, including pension administration, investment structuring and compliance and pension issues that arise in the context of transactions, lending and restructurings. In addition, her practice has a particular […]
The Canada Climate Law Initiative is calling into question whether the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is sufficiently aligning its investments with the transition to a low-carbon economy. In a legal analysis, the organization said the pension fund’s current allocations to high-carbon assets reveal a “troubling incrementalism” within its efforts to mitigate Canadians’ exposure to […]
In June, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in Uber Technologies Inc. v Heller, dismissing an appeal of a decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal that held that the arbitration clause contained in Uber’s standard form service agreement was invalid due to unconscionability and because it contracted out of the Employment Standards Act. […]
Uber Technologies Inc. is trying to keep its Canadian drivers from joining or starting class-action lawsuits against the company — a move that threatens to upend a $400-million fight from drivers wanting to be recognized as employees, says a lawyer. Employment lawyer Lior Samfiru, who is pursuing the case, said drivers using the platform were […]
The Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal has found a labour arbitrator failed to properly analyze an employer’s efforts to accommodate an employee taking medical cannabis for his chronic pain. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers initially filed a grievance on behalf of one of its members, who was refused employment by Valard Construction for […]
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has issued additional reasons for judgment in a long-running unpaid overtime class action lawsuit against Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The court has followed up on its summary judgment decision from March 30, 2020, ruling the bank’s current overtime policy is illegal and unenforceable and that frontline employees who […]
A former Starbucks Canada employee is suing the company for unpaid overtime for himself and other store managers. Trevor Hopman is the lead plaintiff in a proposed class action that claims Starbucks was wrong to class store managers as exempt from overtime pay for work in excess of 44 hours per week. He worked for […]
Much debate remains as to whether private equity is an appropriate option for members of capital accumulation plans. Canada’s neighbours to the south have been examining the potential legal pitfalls of these allocations. A recent information letter from the U.S. department of labor set forth a framework plan sponsors can use to consider the prudence […]
In a split decision, the Supreme Court of Canada has upheld a federal law that forbids companies from making people undergo genetic testing before buying insurance or other services. The Genetic Non-Discrimination Act also outlaws the practice of requiring the disclosure of existing genetic test results as a condition for obtaining such services or entering into a contract. The act […]
The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that where one provision of a termination clause doesn’t meet minimum statutory requirements, it renders the entire clause unenforceable. In Waksdale v. Swegon North America Inc., the court reversed a Superior Court of Justice ruling in favour of plaintiff Benjamin Waksdale’s former employer Swegon. Superior Court Justice Edward […]