Support your employees during upcoming winter months
With the upcoming combination of COVID-19 restrictions and colder, shorter days, psychologists worry that negative effects on mental health will increase in the following months.
COVID-19
COVID-19 update: The right to refuse unsafe work is not a “right to not show up for work”
The Workers’ Compensation Board of British Columbia (the “Board”) recently considered the issue of whether the right to refuse unsafe work protected an employee who refused to show up for work entirely due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Breach of COVID-19 safety procedures justifies dismissal
We are finally starting to see how the first labour and employment cases have grappled with COVID-19 in the workplace. One such decision is Garda Security Screening Inc. v. IAM, District 140 (Shoker Grievance) ([2020] O.L.A.A. No. 162)[1], an arbitral award centred on staff working at an airport. The Shoker Grievance stems from a bulletin entitled "Know the Difference: Self -- Monitoring, Self -- Isolation, and Isolation for Covid -- 19 guidelines" (the “Health Bulletin”) which was distributed by Garda to its workers in late March 2020.
