Unions no longer limit themselves to bargaining tables, although our government gives them various favourable tax status because of their role in representing employees.
This year, they inserted themselves into geopolitics, national shutdowns and public policy campaigns far removed from workplace terms. The Air Canada and Canada Post strikes demonstrated just how far union decisions ripple. They do not just affect employers and employees; they affect all of us.
For non-union employers, the message is blunt: prevention is everything. Once organizing begins, employer rights shrink fast. Stopping that train is rarely possible. Instead, employers should be mindful, alert and proactive in advance.
In Metrolinx vs. Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1587, five employees were fired for cause over comments made in a private group chat. The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the employer’s duty to investigate harassment, even when the victim does not ask for one.
Under occupational health and safety law, knowledge alone triggers responsibility. Employers who fail to act do so at their peril. And the peril is expensive.
Miller v. Alaya Care Inc. should terrify complacent employers. A vice-president employed for just seven months received 14 months’ notice. Inducement was decisive. The tired rule of thumb — one month per year of service — is long dead. Courts are weighing seniority, vulnerability and inducement heavily, and notice awards are rising accordingly.
In Bertsch v. Datastealth...
Were idols of Devi Ahilyabai Holkar broken? No. Was the Kumbha Mahadev temple demolished? No. On 10 January 2025, renovation work at Varanasi's Manikarnika Ghat led to the fracturing of a centuri...