Please note that our office will be closed on Friday, March 25, 2016 and Monday, March 28, 2016 in recognition of the Easter holiday.

As a member of a CSA Group Working Group, David Yazbeck contributed to the development of the Whistleblowing Guideline, which will be available for purchase on the CSA Group website on January 12, 2016. The Guideline sets out best practices for whistleblowing arrangements within an organization. This is aimed at the public and private sectors, as well as NGOs and voluntary organizations.

David Yazbeck is one of the leading practitioners in the area of whistleblower law. He was one of many experts or interested persons who were appointed to the CSA Group working group to establish the Whistleblowing Guideline.

The partners of Raven, Cameron, Ballantyne & Yazbeck are pleased to announce the selection of the successful 2016 Raven, Cameron, Ballantyne & Yazbeck Human Rights/Social Justice Internship candidates, Max Halparin and Samantha Dubord. Both Max and Samantha are in the second year of their studies at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. We congratulate Max and Samantha on their achievement and look forward to working with them this summer when the internship takes place.

This is the eleventh consecutive year that our firm has offered this Human Rights/Social Justice internship. Every summer, we provide paid employment to a student from the University of Ottawa Law School with placements in our firm and two social justice or human rights organizations. This year, Samantha and Max will be working with the National Educational Association of Disabled Students and a joint venture with the Canadian Council for Refugees, South Ottawa Legal Clinic and the University of Ottawa. Previous placements for our internship have included the Workers’ History Museum, International Development Research Centre, EGALE Canada, Amnesty International, the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women, the Council of Canadians, REACH Canada, and many other organizations which provide significant contributions in the areas of social justice and human rights.

Another year is drawing to a close, providing an opportunity to look back and consider the year’s victories and challenges in the labour and employment law context. 2015 was a momentous year for workers’ rights: there were several significant court judgments, as well as important legislative and political changes. Here is RavenLaw’s Year in Review, listing of the top five developments of the year:

1. Right to strike: the Supreme Court issued its new “Labour Trilogy” this year, with three judgments that elaborated upon freedom of association under the Charter in the labour context. The most significant of these cases was Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v. Saskatchewan, 2015 SCC 4, which recognized a Constitutional right to strike. Read more about this huge gain for workers’ rights here.
2. Constructive dismissal: in Potter v New Brunswick Legal Aid Services Commission, 2015 SCC 10, the Supreme Court clarified the test for when an employee has been constructively dismissed. The Court emphasized the importance of work, confirming that the withholding an employee’s work can amount to constructive dismissal. Read more about the judgment here.
3. Upheaval in unjust dismissal law under Canada Labour Code: the Federal Court of Appeal’s judgment in Wilson v Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd, 2015 FCA 17 departed from the well-established approach to unjust dismissal complaints under the Canada Labour Code, and rejected that employees under that regime can only be terminated for just cause. The Supreme Court has granted leave to appeal the judgment, and workers’ advocates will be closely watching the results of that appeal. Read more about the Court of Appeal’s judgment here.
4. Expanded worker remedies under the Employment Standards Act: important remedial gains for Ontario workers took effect in February of this year, pursuant to amendments to the Employment Standards Act. These amendments included the elimination of a cap on recovery for unpaid wages and increases to the time limits to bring employment standards complaints. Read more about these developments here.
5. Ousting of the federal Conservatives: while this was not a legal development, there is no question that this change will dramatically impact workers’ rights going forward. The Liberal government has promised to repeal several anti-union laws passed by the Conservatives. Read more about those campaign promises here.

[This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice, which cannot be given without consideration of your individual circumstances.]

On March 29, 2016, David Yazbeck will be speaking on “Blowing a Whistle at Work: Legal Rights and Obligations” at the Insight Information Workplace Rights & Accommodations Forum 2016. The Forum will provide a guideline for handling complicated workplace accommodations and rights issues through in-depth analysis into case law and best practices.

David’s presentation will examine whistleblowing, including when an employee can blow the whistle, key elements of a whistleblower policy, when an employee can “go public” and the legislation that exists to facilitate whistleblowing or provide protection in the case of reprisal for whistleblowing.

The Ontario Court of Appeal recently heard the appeal brought by the Public Service Alliance of Canada challenging the constitutionality of the Expenditure Restraint Act. This legislation was introduced by the Federal Government in 2009 to cap wage increases in future collective agreements and roll-back increases previously agreed to by the parties in existing collective agreements. The appeal is one of three being heard across the country with respect to this legislation.

PSAC was represented by Andrew Raven and Andrew Astritis of our firm.

On November 25, 2015, Kim Patenaude will be speaking as part of a panel on “Disclosure of Medical and Personal Information: Rights of Employees and Employers” at the 2015 National Healthcare Labour & Employee Relations conference held by Insight. The panel will discuss privacy policy in the healthcare sector, how it stands out from other industries, what information the employer can and cannot request and how to effectively manage business with the presence of strict privacy and information disclosure policies. 

Andrew Astritis recently delivered a guest lecture in an upper-year Labour Law course at the University of Ottawa. The lecture addressed workers’ rights under section 2(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including a discussion of the implications of the Supreme Court of Canada’s recently released trilogy of cases on this issue. Andrew Astritis appeared as co-counsel with Andrew Raven before the Supreme Court of Canada in each of these cases on behalf of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

RavenLaw was proud to again support the Annual Ottawa Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (“LEAF”) Persons Day Breakfast. This year’s breakfast, part of LEAF’s 30^th anniversary year, focused on issues of access to affordable housing and the homelessness crisis in Canada.  

LEAF is a charitable non-profit organization that works to advance the equality rights of women and girls in Canada. The annual fundraising breakfast commemorates the Persons Case – the October 18, 1929 decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council that ruled that women were to be considered persons under the law and should be eligible to sit in the Canadian Senate. Proceeds from the Persons Day breakfast support LEAF’s litigation efforts and help to sustain local equality education programs, such as LEAF at Work and Only Yes Means Yes.

Our office will be closed on Friday, December 11th from 1:30 pm  to 5:00 pm. We will return to regular office hours on Monday, December 14th.