In Ontario English Catholic Teachers Assoc. v. His Majesty, 2022, ONSC 6658, Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice declared Bill 124, Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, to be void and of no effect.
In an unprecedented bid to prevent school board employees represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees from proceeding with a strike planned for early November 2022, Ontario introduced Bill 28, Keeping Students in Class Act, 2022.
The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario recently addressed whether allegations made under the Human Rights Code fell within the exclusive jurisdiction of a labour arbitrator, or whether it had concurrent jurisdiction over employment-related matters.
The appellate court dismissed an appeal, agreeing with the lower court that a football player’s action for damages against a physician for misdiagnosing his injury should proceed in superior court - and not in arbitration.
An arbitrator recently dismissed a union grievance disputing that the unilateral imposition of a mandatory vaccination practice was a reasonable exercise of management rights and responsibilities under the collective agreement.
Since late fall 2021, we have seen a steady flow of arbitration awards emerge in Ontario and British Columbia that consider issues relating to mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies in the unionized workplace.
An arbitrator recently decided that the mandatory vaccination policy of BC Hydro was reasonably necessary to justify the significant intrusion on its employees’ bodily integrity and medical privacy - but the policy's discipline aspect was unreasonable.
An arbitrator in British Columbia held that an employer rightfully terminated an employee who was ineligible for work for refusing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine despite a government order requiring it.
An Ontario arbitrator recently upheld a retirement home’s mandatory vaccination policy as a reasonable workplace rule consistent with the collective agreement, the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Retirement Homes Act, 2010.
An arbitrator has upheld the Toronto District School Board’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, determining determined that the policy did not infringe section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and was a reasonable exercise of management rights.
