No Implied Term in Employment for Layoff for COVID State of Emergency

By now one might have thought that the issue of whether an employer had the legal right to layoff an employee in the face of the COVID 19 pandemic would have been resolved. And yet in the case of Webb v. SDT North America, 2023 ONSC 7170, heard June 12, 2023, with further written submissions delivered September 8, 2023, and September 29, 2023, with reasons for decision released on December 19, 2023, the court was once again asked the question of whether a “COVID layoff” constituted as dismissal.

Court of Appeal Clarifies Test for Condonation of Layoff

If an employee does not immediately object to being laid off, or “furloughed,” does that mean that the employee has agreed to or condoned such action?

In Pham v. Qualified Metal Fabricators Ltd., 2023 ONCA 255 (CanLII), the Court of Appeal for Ontario held that an employer cannot infer consent to a layoff from mere silence.

Employment Standards Act does not Oust Common Law of Constructive Dismissals for Layoffs: ONCA

Do the statutory provisions in Ontario's Employment Standards Act, 2000 governing the ways by which an employer may temporarily lay-off an employee oust the application of the common-law doctrine of constructive dismissal during the temporary lay-off period?

According to a decision from the Court of Appeal for Ontario, Motion Industries (Canada) Inc. v. McCarthy, 2015 ONCA 224 (CanLII), the answer is “no.”