'Frustration just can't factor in when it relates to the employee's legal rights': lawyer
Mar 31, 2025
The firing of a worker during her probationary period was an unlawful reprisal related to her protected sick leave absences due to COVID-19, the Ontario Labour Relations Board has ruled.
“It's really important for employers to understand the importance of acting in accordance with [employees’ statutory] rights - in this case, it was about the employee’s leave entitlements,” says Joel Smith, an employment lawyer at Williams HR Law in the Greater Toronto Area.
“And it's so important that employers provide the right information not only to their HR people and senior management, but their frontline managers as well, to understand what they can and can't take into account when having issues with employees.”
The worker was employed as a divisional sales supervisor with APGN Consulting - operating as The BridgGroup of Companies, a property investment consulting and property management company. She was hired on a two-year fixed-term employment agreement with a start date of July 11, 2022.
The position was a new role with APGN and the employment agreement set out a probationary period of 180 days. In addition, APGN stipulated in the offer letter that there would be no time off granted during the first 90 days of the worker’s employment and the company made it clear that she was to be physically present in the office during the workday.
In August, the worker contracted COVID-19....
Member of the group DJ DOC, Lee Ha-neul has announced a counter-suit against singer Jubi Train and the representative of his agency BASS Camp Studio. On the 21st, BASS Camp Studio issued an offici...