human rights damages

How an external investigation actually saved money for an employer

November 6, 2019 Rubin Thomlinson LLP Employee Relations, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll, Training and Development, 0

A recent Human Rights Tribunal decision demonstrates that the short-term financial costs of an external investigation might also be balanced out by long-term financial savings.

discrimination, employment law, harassment, human rights, human rights damages, Workplace Assessments, Workplace discrimination, workplace investigations

Review of Ontario human rights damages in 2018: New high watermarks

February 11, 2019 Employer Advisor, McCarthy Tétrault LLP Employee Relations, Human Resources, Human Rights, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll

2018 marks an exceptional year for developments in the Ontario human rights remedies realm.

employment law, human rights damages, sexual assault, workplace human rights, workplace sexual harassment

$85,000.00 human rights award against employer in sexual harassment case upheld on appeal

July 31, 2017 De Bousquet PC Barristers and Solicitors Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Health and Safety, Human Resources, Human Rights, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll

In a recent case titled Doyle v. Zochem Inc., the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld a decision to award both moral damages and damages pursuant to the Human Rights Code without subtracting one from the other. This case serves as an example of how serious our Canadian Courts are now treating sexual harassment in the workplace.

damage awards for sexual harassment, double dipping, Doyle v. Zochem Inc, employee relations, employment law, human rights, human rights code, human rights damages, moral damages, Ontario Court of Appeal, sexual harassment

Wrongful dismissal update: More kinds of damages being ordered

February 14, 2017 Doug MacLeod, MacLeod Law Firm Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits, Source Deductions and Reporting, Union Relations, Wages and Compensation

Once upon a time, employees did not sign employment contracts with termination clauses and employment lawyers fought over the appropriate “reasonable” notice period. In 2017, however, employees now claim in addition to wrongful dismissal damages, human rights damages, moral or Wallace damages, punitive damages, and damages for the intentional infliction of mental stress.

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It takes two to tango: Superior Court rules on employees’ duty to facilitate in the accommodation process

May 13, 2016 Stringer LLP Accessibility Standards, Conferences, Employee Relations, Human Resources, Human Rights, Integrated Accessibility Regulation, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits, Standard for Employment, Union Relations, Wages and Compensation

Employers have a duty to accommodate employees with disabilities to the point of undue hardship, including facilitating the return to work of employees who require disability-related accommodation. An important aspect of this duty is procedural, i.e. the steps taken to search for a reasonable accommodation. Even if an employer ultimately cannot accommodate without undue hardship, failure to engage in the procedural aspect of the duty to accommodate is a violation of the Human Rights Code.

17th Annual Ontario Employment Law Conference, accommodating employees with disabilities, accommodation process, disability-related accommodation, duty to accommodate, employment law, human rights code, human rights damages, long-term absence from work

Disabled employee earning $22,000 per year awarded $110,000 damages

April 12, 2016 Doug MacLeod, MacLeod Law Firm Accessibility Standards, Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll, Standard for Employment, Wages and Compensation

Many employees now claim more than one type of legal damages in a wrongful dismissal case. This is particularly the case when the employee is disabled. The following case is a good example.

deaf employee, disabled employee, duty to accommodate, employment law, human rights damages, Ontario Human Rights Code, punitive damages, request for accommodation, terminating a disabled employee, wrongful dismissal damages

Superior Court applies the “Johnstone test” for family status discrimination in wrongful dismissal action

February 4, 2015 Stringer LLP Employment/Labour Standards, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits, Union Relations, Wages and Compensation

We have written before on the decision of the Federal Court of Appeal in Johnstone v Canada (Border Services), which helpfully crafted a clear and balanced test for family status discrimination in the context of childcare (the “Johnstone test”). The Ontario Superior Court has released the first reported decision in Ontario to apply the “Johnstone test” in the context of a wrongful dismissal action.

childcare obligation, employment law, employment standards act, family status, Family Status Accommodation, human rights code, human rights damages, Johnstone test, Johnstone v Canada, Partridge v Botony Dental Corp, pay in lieu of notice, wrongful dismissal damages

Failure to mitigate reduces damages in Human Rights claim

November 5, 2014 Stringer LLP Employee Relations, Human Resources, Human Rights, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll, Wages and Compensation

In the wake of the Divisional Court’s decision in the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board v Fair, human rights damages have been a hot topic. As you may recall, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario awarded significant damages in that decision which included an award of back pay for a period of approximately 10 years.

duty to mitigate, efforts to find alternative employment, employment law, failure to mitigate, Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board v Fair, human rights damages, Li v University Health Network, minimal lost income damages, notice period, termination, wrongful dismissal litigation

Most-viewed articles this week on HRinfodesk

October 31, 2013 Yosie Saint-Cyr, LL.B. Managing Editor Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Human Resources, Human Rights, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll, Wages and Compensation

The three most viewed articles on HRinfodesk this week deal with the final updates on the 2014 compensation forecasts; the impact of a 2008 amendment to the Ontario Human Rights Code resulting in the first award from an Ontario court for human rights damages in a wrongful dismissal case; and how a fight instigator was terminated and others involved let off.

2014 compensation forecast, Alberta labour arbitrator, altercation with co-workers, Aon Hewitt, canadian employment law, Conference Board of Canada, employment law, Hay Group, HRinfodesk, human rights code, human rights damages, Morneau Shepell, pay increases for 2014, Quebec Employers Council, Salary budgets, termination, terminations, Towers Watson, violation of human rights, WorldatWork, wrongful dismissal