The federal government has abolished mandatory retirement in federally regulated workplaces except where it is a bona fide occupational requirement ("BFOR").

For more on this development, see:

• this article by Michelle S. Henry at Borden Ladner Gervais: "Elimination of Mandatory Retirement for Federally Regulated Employees (December 2011)"; and 
• this article by Ralph N. Nero and Keri L. Bennett at Faskens:  "Another Gong Sounds for the End to Mandatory Retirement" (January 11, 2011).

And this is the text of a news release issued by the Canadian Human Rights Commission on December 16, 2011:

Government of Canada Strikes Down Mandatory Retirement  read more »

In Regina v. Servisair Inc. BCPC 142, the BC Provincial Court addressed the appropriate penalties to impose for breach of certain Canada Labour Code ("CLC") group termination provisions.

The decision was issued on May 10, 2011. It is the first reported decision in Canada to consider the penalty issue.

Group Termination Provisions

The group termination provisions in the CLC are triggered when 50 or more employees are terminated in a single industrial establishment either simultaneously or within a 4-week period. Among other things, these provisions require the employer to:  read more »

I have been meaning for several weeks now to draw attention to the February 2011 edition of the Labour and Employment Law Perspective, the Canadian Bar Association National Labour and Employment Law Section Newsletter.

The focus of the excellant February issue was progressive discipline and it contained the following articles (with the summaries taken directly from the newsletter):

Compensation in lieu of reinstatement: A deviation from DeHavilland
By Andrew Zabrovsky

In an interesting supplementary decision following an award granting compensation in lieu of reinstatement, an Ontario arbitrator strongly repudiated several of the well accepted and long propagated concepts which have been applied to this remedy.  read more »

Stirbys v. Assembly of First Nations, 2011 FC 42

Mandatory retirement policies in most federally regulated workplaces will be abolished if a recently introduced private members bill becomes law.

The bill - Bill C-481, An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Canada Labour Code (mandatory retirement age) - was introduced by Ms. Raymonde Folco, a Liberal Member of Parliament from Quebec on November 15, 2010.

It passed Second Reading in the House of Commons on December  6, 2010 and is being referred to the Standing Committee on Human Resources at the committee stage of the parliamentary process. If it passes in committee, it will be referred to Third Reading and likely become law.

In the parliamentary debates held so far, Ms. Folco stated that her bill has three main objectives:  read more »

In a decision issued on September 10, 2010 - Fresco v. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, 2010 ONSC 4724 - a split three-judge panel of the Ontario Divisional Court upheld the decision of an Ontario Superior Court motion judge to not certify an overtime class action against CIBC.

It looks like the Ontario Divisional Court's decision will now be further appealed to the Ontario Court of Appeal. See this case summary - "Ontario Court Affirms Decision Denying Certification in CIBC Overtime Action" (September 17, 2010) -  by law firm Torys.

My two posts on the original June 2009 decision by the motions judge can be found here and here.

The federal government laid out its legislative agenda for the coming year in yesterday's Speech from the Throne. Of interest is the following promise directed at victims of crime:

Our Government will also offer tangible support to innocent victims of crime and their families. It will give families of murder victims access to special benefits under Employment Insurance. It will introduce legislation to give employees of federally regulated industries the right to unpaid leave if they or members of their families are victimized by crime. And our Government will introduce legislation to make the victim surcharge mandatory, to better fund victim services.  read more »

A class action overtime lawsuit against Scotiabank was certified by the Ontario Superior Court in Fulawka v. Bank of Nova Scotia, 2010 ONSC 1148. The case alleges that some 5,300 sales employees located across Canada are owed overtime going back to 2000. The claim is for $350 million ($250 million in general damages; $100 million in punitive damages).

(Update: A March 30, 2010 commentary on the decision by law firm Fasken Martineau ("The HR Space: BNS Overtime Class Action Certified - Did Employer Policy Create Unworkable "Catch-22"?) can be found here.

A third Canadian banking institution nows finds itself in the cross-hairs of Canadian class action lawyers on the basis of unpaid overtime allegations.

Filed on February 8, 2010, the Rosen v. BMO Nesbitt Burns lawsuit seeks compensation for unpaid overtime for Investment Advisors and Financial Advisers going back to 2002.

The suit was filed in the Ontario Superior Court by Juroviesky and Ricci LLP in Toronto. This firm appears to not be part group of law firms  - led by Sack Goldblatt Mitchell LLP and Roy Elliott O'Connor LLP  - that are acting for the plaintiffs in the high-profile overtime class actions that have been filed already against CIBC, Scotiabank and CNR.

The claim must be first certified by the court before it proceed as a class action.  

Juroviesky and Ricci LLP's February 10, 2010 news release can be found here, and a blurb on their website can be found here.  read more »

The Ontario judge hearing the Scotiabank unpaid overtime class action certification application has reserved his decision, according to this Canadian Press article. (You can read the Statement of Claim here).

The Scotiabank case is the second of the "Big Three" unpaid overtime class action certification appplications to be brought by the same coalition of law firms.   read more »