55EmploymentLawIndustrial and Intellectual Property 22
Employment LawCanadian employment legislation applies to employees who work <strong>in</strong> Canada even if the employer is outsideCanada. Most employees are under prov<strong>in</strong>cial jurisdiction, but federal legislation governs employees offederally-regulated undertak<strong>in</strong>gs such as telecommunications, railways, bank<strong>in</strong>g and certa<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>terprov<strong>in</strong>cialenterprises.MINIMUM STANDARDSEach prov<strong>in</strong>ce has employment standards legislation sett<strong>in</strong>g out m<strong>in</strong>imum entitlements for employees. Similarstandards are provided for employees under federal jurisdiction by the Canada Labour Code.The ma<strong>in</strong> areas covered by this legislation <strong>in</strong>clude m<strong>in</strong>imum wages, overtime, hours of work, vacation andholidays, pregnancy and/or parental leaves of absence, mass layoffs and notice of term<strong>in</strong>ation. Employmentstandards legislation applies to most employees, but most statutes provide specific exemptions from theirrequirements for certa<strong>in</strong> types of employees (for example, commissioned travell<strong>in</strong>g salespersons).In general, the standards imposed are relatively consistent across Canada. However, there can be significantdifferences <strong>in</strong> detail between jurisdictions, not only <strong>in</strong> the standards required, but also <strong>in</strong> other matters, such asthe remedies available to employees. For example, <strong>in</strong> Ontario an employer can only be ordered to re<strong>in</strong>state aterm<strong>in</strong>ated employee <strong>in</strong> limited circumstances (for example, if the employer has improperly term<strong>in</strong>ated anemployee because she has taken pregnancy leave), whereas the Canada Labour Code and Québec legislationgive employees potentially much broader rights to seek re<strong>in</strong>statement.The legislated m<strong>in</strong>imum standards cannot be contracted out of nor waived by employees. Terms morefavourable to employees than the m<strong>in</strong>imum standards can also be agreed upon, <strong>in</strong> either an <strong>in</strong>dividualemployment contract or, <strong>in</strong> the case of unionized employees, a collective agreement. In Canada, agreed terms ofemployment will typically be more generous to employees, at least <strong>in</strong> certa<strong>in</strong> respects, than the statutorym<strong>in</strong>imum standards. In addition, non-statutory legal pr<strong>in</strong>ciples may also impose additional obligations onemployers, particularly <strong>in</strong> connection with the term<strong>in</strong>ation of employees: see "Term<strong>in</strong>ation of Employees" below.In Ontario and Québec, employment standards legislation provides that where a purchaser of all or part of a<strong>bus<strong>in</strong>ess</strong> employs any of the former employees, their employment is deemed to be cont<strong>in</strong>uous for the purposeof the legislation (e.g., if the purchaser later term<strong>in</strong>ates any of these employees, it must recognize their priorservice with the seller <strong>in</strong> giv<strong>in</strong>g notice of term<strong>in</strong>ation). The Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 alsoprovides for related employers to be treated as a s<strong>in</strong>gle employer for purposes of the Act. This is meant toprevent employers from splitt<strong>in</strong>g their payroll <strong>in</strong> order, for example, to avoid payment of severance pay, which ispayable to employees with more than five years of service, if the employer has a payroll of $2.5 million or more,or there is a "mass layoff" of 50 or more employees.In Québec, An Act respect<strong>in</strong>g labour standards generally does not apply to senior managerial personnel, whichhas been <strong>in</strong>terpreted as apply<strong>in</strong>g only to a limited group of <strong>in</strong>dividuals who participate <strong>in</strong> the decision-mak<strong>in</strong>gprocess with respect to the policies and the strategies of the organization.The Québec statute provides recourse for employees who are victims of specified prohibited practices, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>gpsychological harassment. A remedy is also available to employees who have more than two years of serviceand who believe they were dismissed without cause. An employee who is successful <strong>in</strong> challeng<strong>in</strong>g theemployer's conduct may request to be re<strong>in</strong>stated <strong>in</strong> his or her employment, <strong>in</strong> addition to be<strong>in</strong>g awarded any lostwages.56 Employment Law
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DOING BUSINESSIN CANADAYOUR COMPLET
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ONTENTSTABLE OF CONTENTSINTRODUCTIO
- Page 5 and 6: IntroductionPOLITICAL AND CONSTITUT
- Page 7 and 8: 5RealEstateIndustrial and Intellect
- Page 9 and 10: accordance with directions from the
- Page 11 and 12: TITLE INSURANCE, TITLE OPINIONS AND
- Page 13 and 14: 11EnvironmentalLawIndustrial and In
- Page 15 and 16: commercial activities, or carrying
- Page 17 and 18: The federal government currently re
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- Page 23 and 24: partnership, limited partners’ li
- Page 25 and 26: parties. In Québec, joint venturer
- Page 27 and 28: 25Financing aBusiness OperationIndu
- Page 29 and 30: The Civil Code of Québec provides
- Page 31 and 32: 29CorporateGovernanceIndustrial and
- Page 33 and 34: Instrument 58-101. The practices re
- Page 35 and 36: 33CompetitionLawIndustrial and Inte
- Page 37 and 38: BID-RIGGINGBid rigging is any agree
- Page 39 and 40: anticompetitive agreements among co
- Page 41 and 42: 39ForeignInvestmentIndustrial and I
- Page 43 and 44: apply for Canadian citizenship. (Pe
- Page 45 and 46: (D)GENERAL REVIEW THRESHOLDSThe fol
- Page 47 and 48: there be an "acquisition of control
- Page 49 and 50: Industrial and Intellectual Propert
- Page 51 and 52: to perform or cause them to be perf
- Page 53 and 54: Registration grants an exclusive ri
- Page 55: PIPEDA applies in all provinces of
- Page 59 and 60: displacement, laying-off, suspensio
- Page 61 and 62: easonable cause to believe that the
- Page 63 and 64: 63Retirement Plans, EmployeeBenefit
- Page 65 and 66: • funding;• eligibility;• pen
- Page 67 and 68: 67Temporary Entry andPermanent Resi
- Page 69 and 70: INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTSIn recent y
- Page 71 and 72: immigrant in another class, he or s
- Page 73 and 74: 73Bankruptcy andInsolvency Proceedi
- Page 75 and 76: BANKRUPTCYBankruptcy results in the
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- Page 79 and 80: Tax ConsiderationsThis chapter prov
- Page 81 and 82: TAX REPORTINGAnnual Tax ReturnsCana
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