Contributor : Melynda Layton

The Ontario Court of Appeal was busy the last two months providing important direction to the employment bar about the enforceability of non-competition agreements in the staffing environment (see  S. I. Systems Partnership v. Geng https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2020/2020onsc8086/2020onsc8086.html) and insight on notice and break of service (see Currie v. Nylene Canada Inc., 2021 ONSC 1922 (CanLII), <https://canlii.ca/t/jdqzq ).  Both Trial Decisions were upheld..  

Parties to a contract owe an obligation of honesty towards each other (Bhasin v. Hrynew, 2014 SCC 71).  They must not act capriciously or arbitrarily.  In the simplest of terms – parties must be honest during performance of a contract and not mislead each another.

As the pandemic lingered and the state of emergency closed the Ontario courts and administrative systems we were forced to change the way trials and hearings proceeded.  This was a careful balancing act between the right to a hearing and the need to minimize the infection rate of COVID-19.

Ontario has made significant and controversial changes to workplace legislation.  The bulk of these alterations came into effect January 2018.  Below is a summary of the changes to the Employment Standards Act as a consequence of the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act,