Energy workers switch to other professions in droves as work dries up in once booming sector
Beset by layoffs, Canada’s energy and mining workers have been bucking tradition and seeking opportunities in other sectors — quite successfully, by all accounts. “The cyclical changes in the resource sector are giving way to structural changes,” said Jeanette Sutherland, director of the multi-stakeholder Energy to Digital Growth Education and Upskilling Project (EDGE UP) at […]
Share transfers to executives, employees are income not capital gains: appeal court
By Julius Melnitzer | December 23, 2021 A Federal Court of Appeal ruling will make it very difficult for executives and employees to treat share transfers from their companies as capital gains rather than income. The decision involved Kitchener, Ont.-based D2L Corp., whose intention was to distribute appreciated shares of the company, held in a […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: OCA reverses heroin trafficker’s conviction after judge delays reasons for 4 years | Women lawyers working 100 more hours than men | 90% of UK lawyers resisting return to office | EU pushes gig workers’ rights | Top 5 law firm bulletins & webinars
By Julius Melnitzer | December 6, 2021 JUDGE TAKES FOUR YEARS TO DELIVER REASONS AFTER THREE-DAY TRIAL The trial involved only three days of evidence. But Judge Kofi Barnes of the Ontario Superior Court took four years to deliver reasons. And that was some 31 months after Shane Artis appealed his conviction and 10-year sentence […]
Employee who didn’t read terms of stock option agreement has case overturned
By Julius Melnitzer | November 28, 2021 The Ontario Court of Appeal has overturned a Superior Court decision that allowed an employee to receive his stock option awards throughout his 24 months of reasonable notice on the grounds that the employer had failed to provide adequate notice of termination. “The decision gives important guidance to […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: BLG to manage Ivanhoé Cambridge leasing legal services | Study: junior counsel beat senior counsel as often as seniors beat them | Litigation funding fees capped | Judges need safety too | Top law firm bulletins
By Julius Melnitzer | November 11, 2021 IVANHOé CAMBRIDGE IN-HOUSE LAWYERS MOVE TO BLG “In-house” gets new meaning as part of Ivanhoé Cambridge’s (IC) law department moves to Borden Ladner Gervais LLP offices in Montreal and Toronto. All this pursuant to an agreement for BLG to manage legal services for shopping centres owned by IC, […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Pandemic spurs unprecedented satisfaction with lawyers | Non-humans can be patent ‘inventors’ | SCC revisits statutory interpretation? | EU declares open season for environmental challenges | Best of: law firm webinars & bulletins
By Julius Melnitzer | October 29, 2021 CLIENT SATISFACTION WITH LAWYERS PEAKS DURING PANDEMIC A UK survey suggests the inability to meet lawyers in person has, at the very least, not diminished clients’ satisfaction with their services. Indeed, according to the Law Society Gazette, satisfaction levels reached an all-time high during the pandemic. The Legal […]
Ontario court upholds employees’ right to sue for wrongful dismissal in cases of chronic stress
By Julius Melnitzer | September 17, 2021 Ontario’s Divisional Court has affirmed employees’ right to sue for wrongful and constructive dismissal in the civil courts in cases of chronic mental stress arising from workplace harassment. “That’s important because workplace compensation claims by employees suffering from mental stress as a result of harassment might increase an […]
Recommended Reading: Timely Law Firm Bulletins
By Julius Melnitzer | July 19, 2021 CHARITIES & NON-PROFIT Miller Thomson: Why it matters that the Supreme Court decision reinforced the existence of hidden contracts in charity/nonprofit governance COMPETITION McMillan: Emerging Competition & Data Privacy Issues for Real Estate Organizations DATA PRIVACY Gowlings: New Standard Contractual Clauses for International Transfers Under The GDPR McCarthy […]
Little legal clarity for employers dealing with pandemic-related layoffs
By Julius Melnitzer | July 18, 2021 A trio of conflicting decisions from Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice has left employers confused about a possible onslaught of wrongful dismissal lawsuits stemming from temporary layoffs due to the coronavirus pandemic. The confusion arises because judges have come to different conclusions about Ontario’s infectious disease emergency leave regulation, […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS | Advocates’ Society releases final report on future of advocacy | Scrotum sanctions: OCA upholds $150,000 punitives award against employer | SCC to decide whether receivers can disclaim arbitration agreements | OCA: Municipality owes no duty of care to developer | FC: “Budway” weed infringes “Subway” sandwich | Best law firm webinars and bulletins
By Julius Melnitzer | June 14, 2021 Modern Advocacy Task Force releases final report The Advocates’ Society Modern Advocacy Task Force has just released its final report, The Right to be Heard: The Future of Advocacy in Canada. The report identifies four overarching principles: the open court principle, the imperative of access to justice, the […]