Choice of Law Provisions: Application of the Ontario Employment Standards Act to International Employees

Can an employer and employee agree by contract that the laws of Ontario, Canada will apply to terms of their employment relationship, even if: (a) the employee works and is physically situated in in Los Angeles, California; and (b) the company is a New Jersey company with its head office in the State of Connecticut?

If the answer to that question is “yes”, do / can the employment standards set out in the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 apply to such an employee?

Those were some of the questions put to the Honourable Justice James F. Diamond of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in the case of McMichael v The New Zealand & Australian Lamb Company, 2018 ONSC 5422 (CanLII).

Workers Now Eligible for WSIB Benefits for Chronic Mental Stress and Workplace Harassment

On May 17, 2017, the Stronger, Healthier Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2017, S.O. 2017 C.8 , formerly Bill 127, received Royal Assent. That act, which was omnibus legislation, amended no fewer than 48 statutes, including the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997. This post will focus on the changes to that statute.

Pursuant to Schedule 33 of the Stronger, Fairer Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2017, employees eligible for Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (“WSIB”) benefits, are now eligible to make claims for “chronic or traumatic mental stress arising out of and in the course of the worker’s employment”

On December 14, 2017, the Stronger, Fairer Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2017, S.O. 2017 C.22, formerly Bill 177, received Royal Assent. That act, which was also omnibus legislation, amended no fewer than 110 statutes, including the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997. This statute further amended the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 with respect to claims for chronic or traumatic mental stress.