Author Archive - Piccolo Heath LLP

Prominent Canadian lawyers Patrizia Piccolo and Jennifer Heath have come together as Piccolo Heath LLP, Canada’s newest employment law firm. With more than 30 years combined expertise, the firm was founded with the purpose of delivering outstanding legal counsel and dynamic, client-focused service. Piccolo Heath LLP is focused on guiding clients through the legal landscape to determine the best solutions to their unique issues. The firm is well-versed in current employment-related case law and statutes, but is also highly sensitive to the practical impact of the law on both employers and employees. Read more.

Sentenced to probation: How employers can protect themselves when terminating the employment of recent hires

December 12, 2018 Piccolo Heath LLP Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Human Resources, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll, Recruiting and Hiring, Training and Development

Employers who seek to impose more rigorous oversight of new employees and minimize termination obligations to those employees can rely on appropriately drafted probationary limitations in their offers.

employment contract, employment law, Job offer, probation, probationary period, termination

(Don’t) Google it: practical lessons from the global walkout by Google’s employees

November 21, 2018 Piccolo Heath LLP Employee Relations, Health and Safety, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Training and Development

On November 1, 2018, thousands of Google employees from around the world – including in Canada – engaged in a coordinated walkout, leaving their respective offices to protest workplace harassment and inequality at the company.

#MeToo movement, employment law, sexual harassment, social climate, walkout, workplace harassment, workplace sexual harassment and violence

Granting intervener status in cases of sexual harassment – Victims can be more than just witnesses

October 16, 2018 Piccolo Heath LLP Employee Relations, Health and Safety, Human Resources

In the recent Ontario Superior Court decision Render v. ThyssenKrupp Elevator, Master Andrew Graham found that an employee who claimed that a co-worker sexually harassed her could be granted intervener status at the co-worker’s trial for wrongful dismissal.

#metoo, employment law, intervener status, sexual harassment, sexual misconduct

Business purchasers use employment contracts to try to ‘cover their assets’ – Can it work?

September 19, 2018 Piccolo Heath LLP Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Human Resources, Recruiting and Hiring

In the case of Krishnamoorthy v. Olympus Inc., was the offer of employment by the new employer adequate consideration, thus creating a new binding contract?

Dismissal, employment contracts, employment law, sale of business, termination, termination without cause

There’s a tidal shift happening in human rights – Part II are employers ready for Bill 164?

August 20, 2018 Piccolo Heath LLP Employee Relations, Human Resources, Human Rights

Bill 164 aims to expand the current protection offered by the Ontario Human Rights Code in relation to citizenship, race and place of origin to add immigration status, which will essentially eliminate an employer’s ability to discriminate on the basis of how long someone has been in the country.

Bill 164, citizenship discrimination, employment law, Genetic characteristics, immigration status, policy record, prohibited grounds of discrimination, social condition

Starbucks avoids paying employees for every second worked in California… for now. Do Ontario employers have the same ability?

July 23, 2018 Piccolo Heath LLP Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Human Resources, Payroll, Wages and Compensation

Employers in Ontario ought to be wary of asking employees to perform any work without pay. Otherwise, they may find themselves on the wrong end of a lawsuit and in violation of Ontario employment laws.

commuting time, on-call work, paid overtime, record keeping, required presence at the workplace, time worked, tracking time worked, travel time, unapproved overtime, unpaid overtime, unrecorded time worked

There’s a tidal shift happening in human rights – Are employers ready?

June 20, 2018 Piccolo Heath LLP Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits

The intolerance brought on by the #MeToo movement is being mirrored in Human Rights Tribunal decisions across the country as awards for damages relating to sexual harassment show an upward trend. There are also other changes brewing in human rights law, particularly in Ontario. A recent decision on age discrimination and benefit coverage may require significant amendments to employer benefit plans and resulting costs to employers.

#metoo, #MeToo movement, A.B. v. Joe Singer Shoes Limited, age discrimination, anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies, benefit coverage, discrimination and harassment, employment law, G.M. v X Tattoo Parlour, human rights, sexual assault, sexual assault and harassment

What’s old is new again (for now): Ontario government to review public holiday pay calculations and temporarily reinstate “old” formula effective July 1, 2018

May 17, 2018 Piccolo Heath LLP Payroll, Wages and Compensation

Since the “old” Public Holiday Pay formula will not be reinstated until July 1, 2018, it’s important for employers to ensure they make the appropriate changes to their public holiday pay calculations at the right time.

calculating statutory holiday pay, calculation of holiday pay, employment law, Public Holiday Pay, public holiday pay calculations, Statutory holiday pay

You found WHAT in the staff room? Handling marijuana use in the workplace before and after recreational marijuana becomes legal

April 24, 2018 Piccolo Heath LLP Employee Relations, Health and Safety, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources

Unusual things can occur in workplaces; however, employers can prepare for some of those things by instituting good policies and practices, particularly in advance of any anticipated change in legislation.

Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulation, cannabis, Cannabis Act, employment law, impaired at work, impairment in the workplace, marijuana, marijuana use in the workplace, medicinal marijuana, recreational cannabis, recreational marijuana

What does equal pay for equal work equal (as of April 1, 2018)?

March 19, 2018 Piccolo Heath LLP Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Human Resources, Payroll, Wages and Compensation

Equal pay for equal work protections are expanding on April 1, 2018. The Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”) currently prohibits an employer from paying a lower rate to an employee on the basis of the employee’s sex. As of April 1, 2018, employers may no longer pay less to employees because of sex or “differences […]

differences in employment status, employee rights, employment law, Employment status, equal pay for equal work, pay disparity, pay equalization, substantially the same work

Secretly recorded conversations – the collision of “technification” and mistrust in the workplace

February 21, 2018 Piccolo Heath LLP Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, HR and Technology, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Privacy and Security

While I would never have been able to predict at the time I started practicing employment law that I’d be writing about and advising clients on the risks associated with secret recordings in the workplace, it is a reality that is now a regular part of the modern workplace.

breach of employee privacy, breach of personal privacy, Breach of privacy, employment law, privacy breach, recorded conversations, recorded discussions, secret recordings in the workplace, secretly recorded conversations, technification, technology in the workplace