At MacLeod Law Firm, we restrict our practice to labour and employment law. There are many statutes that apply to employees and employers and only a firm specializing in this area understands these numerous laws and how they apply and more importantly knows the exceptions to these general obligations. These exceptions can save employers money and allow greater management flexibility.
Legal obligations imposed on employers that do not necessarily apply to all employees
For example, under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act (ESA):
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- dentists, doctors, lawyers, chiropractors and architects are five of at least 12 different types of employees who are not entitled to certain pay like overtime pay;
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- these same 12 professionals and registered practitioners are not entitled to certain pay;
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- some employees are exempt from or can be paid less than the minimum wage of $10.25/hr;
Wouldn’t it be helpful and cost-effective for these practitioners to know this at the time of hiring or staff layoffs?
Legal obligations imposed on some employers that do not apply to all employers
For example, property management and “building services” have one section of the ESA devoted just to them and relate only to a building.
Under this section of the ESA, when one property management company takes over from another and does not employ all the original staff, the new provider must generally provide termination pay and severance pay. In other words, the new provider must pay termination and severance pay to a person it has never employed!
Of course, just like many other laws, there are exceptions to this general rule. For example, this obligation does not apply to an employee who refuses an offer of employment with the new provider that is reasonable in the circumstances.
Wouldn’t it be helpful and cost-effective for property managers to factor this into the contract negotiations?
Exceptions – the devil is in the details
Each year, a book called Ontario Labour & Employment Legislation is published. The 2012 edition is 1297 pages long and includes 14 employment laws and numerous associated regulations.
In an effort to keep you current with recent changes to Ontario employment law, MacLeod Law Firm publishes regular articles on our website.
Recent changes to statute and common employment law that an employer should know are the following:
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- The provincial government regularly amends existing laws and introduces new laws. This is called statute law. Recent blogs discussing changes to statute law include AODA and Bill 30.
- Ontario judges regularly change the law. This is called judge-made law or the common law. Recent blogs on changes to the common law include Monitoring Employee Emails and Wrongful Dismissal Update: What is Just Cause?
