The Show Must Go On; Hearings Are No Different – Arbitrations in the Time of COVID-19

What do you do when your arbitration is coming up but no one can meet face to face? The answer, for a number of arbitrators, is that you find another way to hold the hearing. There are many reasons a party may not want to go ahead with a hearing.  In some cases, a party can ask to postpone the date. Examples include the illness of a representative or of... Read More

Can I be laid off because of the Coronavirus pandemic?

With the COVID-19 outbreak, circumstances are changing by the hour. These are unsettling times and there is uncertainty for employees, employers and unions alike. What is important is that all have to be committed to the health, safety, and well-being of both workers and management. Many workplaces are issuing a work from home policy to avoid the spread of COVID-19. You may be able to continue to perform work through... Read More

Can an employee refuse to work because they are afraid of contracting COVID-19 in the workplace?

Employees have the right to work in a healthy and safe workplace and, as such, employers have the obligation to take all reasonable precautions to protect the health and safety of employees.  If an employee has reason to believe that there is a dangerous condition in the workplace or that their duties are likely to present a danger to their health and safety or the health and safety of their... Read More

RavenLaw is proud to welcome Sean McGee and Alison McEwen

RavenLaw is proud to welcome two new lawyers to our team: Sean McGee and Alison McEwen. Sean practises in the areas of Labour Law, Employment Law, and Litigation. He represents unions across Canada, with a focus on Ottawa, Eastern Ontario, and Toronto. For more information about Sean, visit: https://ravenlaw.com/people/sean-mcgee. Alison practices in the areas of Labour Law, Employment Law, and Litigation. She also represents unions across Canada, with a focus... Read More

Labour Adjudicator Rules Cohabitation Not Required for Spousal Relocation Leave

A couple can be living in a conjugal relationship even if they are living in different cities, according to a recent Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board decision. The Board found that the Department of Citizenship and Immigration was wrong to deny an Ottawa-based employee’s request for spousal relocation leave to join his partner in Vancouver, because the couple had not lived under the same roof for at... Read More

Holiday Hours

Ravenlaw Holiday Hours Please note our office will be closed from December 23, 2019 until January 1, 2020. We will reopen for regular business hours on Thursday, January 2, 2020 at 8:30 am. Warmest wishes for a happy holiday season and a wonderful new year. Read More

An Employee’s Guide to Ontario’s COVID-19 Shutdown

The Ontario Government announced its intention to expand the closure of all “non-essential” businesses on April 3, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement included plans to extend the shutdown to April 17, 2020 and to include new workplaces on the list of businesses that must be temporarily closed. But despite the media attention to this announcement, details of what exactly the shutdown means for employees have been... Read More

RavenLaw Appears Before Supreme Court on Charter Challenge

On December 12, 2019, RavenLaw appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada to argue in support of a Charter challenge to portions of the RCMP pension plan, which have been applied to prevent employees from buying back periods of service during which they had temporarily reduced hours of work for childcare reasons. RavenLaw appeared on behalf of the intervener, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, to argue that the pension... Read More

The Canada Emergency Response Benefit – Who Can and Who Cannot Apply

The Government of Canada has started accepting applications for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) this week, as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. While this benefit is going to provide crucial support to many who have lost income due to the pandemic, there are lingering questions about who has been excluded from the benefit, and whether the Government will provide further support to those who have... Read More

Pre-Existing Medical Conditions and Long-Term Disability Entitlement

If you have recently started a new job, you may be surprised to learn that your employer’s insurance plan might not cover long-term disability entitlement for people with pre-existing medical conditions. You may be even more surprised to learn that human rights legislation allows for an employer to exclude some people with pre-existing conditions from disability insurance plans. Overview Canada has both federal and provincial human rights legislation prohibiting discrimination... Read More