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Canada Pension PlanUnder Canada’s Pension Plan, retired anddisabled employees receive a pensionincome from the federal government. ThePension Plan is paid for through payrolldeductions from employees and mandatoryemployer contributions. Employers arerequired to deduct the contributions from anemployee’s compensation, to match thecontributions, and remit the total to thefederal government.Employment Insurance ActThe federal Employment Insurance Actprovides temporary benefits to qualifyingemployees who are unemployed, or withoutincome due to pregnancy, parental leave,temporary sickness or who are oncompassionate care leave. It is agovernment-run insurance plan paid forthrough mandatory contributions from bothemployees and employers, remitted to thefederal government by employers.THE COMMON LAWThe “common law” is “judge-made” law,consisting of the decisions of judges andother decision makers. In the employmentand labour context, precedents may beestablished by judges, adjudicators,arbitrators and statutory boards (e.g., labourboards, etc.). By interpreting and applyingregulations, decision makers have created abody of common law setting out legal tests,exceptions, applications and precedentsaffecting the legal obligations of employers.While it would be impossible to highlightevery aspect of the workforce that istouched by the common law, it is worthwhilehighlighting a few of the most significantareas.Implied Contractual TermsAbsent a written contract of employmentproviding for the contrary, certain termshave become “implied terms” of every nonunionizedemployment relationship. Suchimplied terms include:Employees are generally consideredto be hired for an indefinite period;An obligation to provide reasonablenotice of termination of employment,or pay in lieu of reasonable notice, inthe absence of just cause fortermination of employment; andDuties on employees, such as theduty of honesty, duty ofconfidentiality, and the duty to avoida conflict of interest with theemployer during the course ofemployment.Reasonable Notice PeriodsCourts have confirmed that the mandatorynotice periods provided to employees underlegislation are minimums; they are a “floor”and not a “ceiling”. Accordingly, employeesare generally entitled to greater notice oftermination than is provided for in thosestatutes. This is known as “common lawnotice”, which is determined on a “case bycase” basis, but all of the Atlantic provincesgenerally consider three key factors, whichare:The age of the employee (generally,older employees receive morenotice);Employment and Labour Law 99