The notion of establishment in employment and labour law is a key concept as it regularly provides the framework for the application of certain standards or obligations. For instance, the notion of establishment will be relevant for determining whether organizations have triggered the application of collective dismissal provisions, whether employees performing the same tasks are required to receive the same salary and benefits and whether employees can benefit from worker’s compensation coverage, to name a few.
The increased ability for employees to work remotely has, however, muddled the waters of what constitutes an employer’s establishment. With employment and labour laws dependent, in many respects, on being able to locate or identify an employer’s establishment, the ability to regularly work from places where the employer has little or no control has given rise to serious and practical difficulties in interpreting employment and labour laws which were conceived through the framework of the traditional establishment.
These practical difficulties were illustrated in a recent series of cases before Quebec’s labour tribunal, the Tribunal Administratif du Travail (“TAT”). In both cases, namely in Unifor, section locale 177 c. Groupe CRH Canada inc. (“Groupe CRH”) and in Syndicat des travailleuses et travailleurs de la Coop Lanaudière CSN c. Coop Novago (“Novago”), the TAT was called upon to determine whether the hiring of a worker to perform work remotely for the employer...
Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, has emerged as a major force in UK politics in recent years – pushing anti-net-zero policies, alongside vehement opposition to immigration. The hard-right populist ...