BY NITIN PARDAL, LAWYER, WISE LAW OFFICE A warning to mothers who gave birth at Rouge Valley Centenary Hospital – Big Brother may be watching you. Or just trying to sell you a Registered Education Savings Plan (“RESP”). Between 2009 and 2013 confidential personal data of maternity patients at Rouge Valley
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Wise Law Blog: Salt on a Wound: Breaching Confidentiality of a Wrongful Dismissal Settlement Can Cost You
BY NITIN PARDAL, LAWYER, WISE LAW OFFICE A cautionary tale for employees – an employer can and very likely will sue you, if you breach the confidentiality clause of an employment law settlement agreement. Just ask Jan Wong, a former employee of the Globe and Mail (“the Globe”). Upon her dismissal
Continue readingWise Law Blog: Heckling the Home Team: Off-Duty Conduct and Dismissal for Cause
BY NITIN PARDAL, LAWYER, WISE LAW OFFICE Can you be fired for booing the home team? As this Toronto Star article points out, it might not be out of the question, at least in New York City. While attending a New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden with his supervisor
Continue readingWise Law Blog: Mitigation – A Dismissed Employee’s Continuing Obligation
BY NITIN PARDAL, LAWYER, WISE LAW OFFICEIt is a well founded principle in the law of contracts that once a breach occurs, a plaintiff has an obligation to minimize their damages. In bringing an action against a defendant for breach of contract, a plaintiff would not be allowed to “rack
Continue readingWise Law Blog: (Part 1) Jones v. Tsige – Revisiting the Tort of Invasion of Privacy
A year and a half ago, Ontario’s highest court took the “incremental step” of recognizing the tort of invasion of privacy in the seminal decision of Jones v. Tsige. In the first of a two-part series, this blog post will summarize this cause of action. In the follow-up post, we will examine
Continue readingWise Law Blog: Restrictive Covenants – Unbreakable Shackle or Unenforceable Nuisance?
The start of one’s employment relationship is akin to the honeymoon period of a marriage. However, when things go sour, the resulting “divorce” can become acrimonious. For employees, the dissolution of the employment relationship is especially difficult if an employer relies upon restrictive covenants in the employment contract that restrict
Continue readingWise Law Blog: Punitive Damages in Ontario Employment Law – Pate Estate v. Galway-Cavendish and Harvey (Township)
American courtroom dramas and John Grisham novels tend to skew Canadian views on what punitive damages are and how they are awarded. The Ontario Court of Appeal’s November 2013 decision in Pate Estate v. Galway-Cavendish and Harvey (Township) provides some clarity on the awarding of punitive damages in the employment
Continue readingWise Law Blog: Supreme Court of Canada Rules on Pension Income and Damages in Wrongful Dismissal
The Supreme Court of Canada’s recent ruling in IBM Canada Ltd. v. Waterman provides a great deal of clarity on the issue of collateral benefits such as pensions in a wrongful dismissal action and whether such a benefit ought to be deducted from the amount owed by the employer on account of
Continue readingWise Law Blog: Dispelling Unjustified Fears – The Record of Employment (ROE)
The end of an employment relationship is rarely a pleasant experience for anyone involved. Particularly for a dismissed employee, heightened emotions and confusion can lead to genuine anxiety and stress. In the midst of all of this turmoil, an employer issues a Record of Employment (ROE) to the employee. An
Continue readingWise Law Blog: Inducement in the Age of Social Networking
Canadian courts have routinely emphasized that the determination of reasonable notice entitlements is an art rather than a science. One factor that plays an important role in assessing the quantum of reasonable notice entitlements is the assessment of whether an employee was induced by the subsequent employer to leave a secure and
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