January 2025 Workplace HR Recap & News - Jan 31, 2025
Enjoy our latest edition of Workplace Recap for Canadian employers.
Since we didn't send out a newsletter in December, this issue includes some updates from last month.
January 2025 Legislation Updates
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No legislative updates in January.
January 2025 HR News
- Trump: DEI under siege. Will Canada hold the line?
- AI responses found to be more compassionate than human ones: Study
- Canada’s unemployment rate holds steady at 6.7%
- University of Alberta replaces DEI framework - "evolves with new EDI language"
- Is it ok to lie & steal? Toronto school boards cut down on sick leave abuse - including hiring private investigators.
- 1/3 of Jewish Ontario doctors consider fleeing Canada amid rising rates of antisemitism.
- These are the best Jobs for 2025: Report
- 65% of workers now feel empowered to decline extra work: Report
- Employers spending on wellbeing benefits declines further in 2024: Report
- 20 employers banned from Temporary Foreign Worker Program
- 2025 salary increase budget forecast: a more cautious approach anticipated for 2025
- 2 employees charged with defrauding cellphone company of $900K.
January 2025 Case Law Round Up
- Want your Severance? Sign here. (Or don’t, & win $450k in court). Timmins v. Artisan Cells
- Advice to employers: don’t assume ‘i’m done’ means ‘i quit’. It could cost you $350k.
- Dugault v. ignace - Take 2: Ontario Court uphelds termination clause invalidation.
- Escalation and dishonesty: BC worker's termination justified, says arbitrator.
- Another happy dance for employers: Yet another Ontario termination clause upheld.
- Alta employer's early termination of relocated worker results in six-month notice award.
- Court orders WestJet to hand over flight attendant harassment files.
HR Tip of the Month
Legislation Updates
No legislative updates in January.
HR News
Trump: DEI under siege. Will Canada hold the line?
Trump’s return is reviving the anti-DEI movement, and the effects could spill into Canadian boardrooms. Are diversity programs about to be rebranded, restructured, or quietly scrapped?
AI responses found to be more compassionate than human ones: Study
Is the future of empathy… artificial? Or are humans just slacking on the soft skills?
Turns out, robots might just be better at kindness than we are. A new study found that AI-generated responses are often more compassionate, patient, and understanding than those from real people.
Canada’s unemployment rate holds steady at 6.7%
University of Alberta replaces DEI framework - "evolves with new EDI language"
"For many years, our efforts around equity, diversity, and inclusivity (EDI) were aimed at advancing the university’s mission as articulated by President Tory. However, the time has come for us to evolve — not just in words but in actions that better reflect the kind of community we strive to be, continuing to build on President Tory’s aspirations. This is why we are moving forward with a new framework and new language: access, community, and belonging."
Is it ok to lie & steal? Toronto school boards cut down on sick leave abuse - including hiring private investigators.
"I hope you answered, “No.” But then, maybe you are part of a public union and stealing from the taxpayers isn’t a big deal to you."
School boards say they can’t keep up with the escalating cost of sick days; they add up to tens of millions of dollars.
The Toronto public board has an investigations unit and says it has, on occasion, hired outside private investigators to look into claims of misconduct, including sick-leave abuse, and that employees have lost their jobs as a result.
What sort of violations led to firing? Teachers on sick leave going on vacations, shopping or to casino days. One teacher was on leave in Toronto, working at a school in Montreal and campaigning for the federal election.
1/3 of Jewish Ontario doctors consider fleeing Canada amid rising rates of antisemitism.
"Union members have been attending protests that condone terrorism, and I’ve witnessed colleagues showing up to these protests with union flags, chanting dangerous slogans"
Nearly one third of Jewish medical practitioners in Ontario are considering leaving the country in response to rising antisemitism, according to a new survey that found that doctors across Canada are worried about what’s happening to their profession.
These are the best Jobs for 2025: Report
Here is the full list of the best jobs in Canada for 2025, according to the Indeed report:
Top jobs in Canada for 2025:
- Outbound sales representative – $108,149 median salary (39% remote/hybrid)
- Nurse practitioner – $115,530 median salary (17% remote/hybrid)
- Water resources engineer – $103,525 median salary (33% remote/hybrid)
- Director of education – $98,848 median salary (14% remote/hybrid)
- Civil engineer – $91,233 median salary (30% remote/hybrid)
- Fleet manager – $89,179 median salary (6% remote/hybrid)
- Structural engineer – $88,586 median salary (26% remote/hybrid)
- Regional sales manager – $87,689 median salary (40% remote/hybrid)
- Electrical engineer – $87,590 median salary (29% remote/hybrid)
- Controller (finance) – $87,179 median salary (13% remote/hybrid)
- Project engineer – $86,610 median salary (27% remote/hybrid)
- Director of sales and marketing – $85,518 median salary (38% remote/hybrid)
- Structural designer – $85,460 median salary (30% remote/hybrid)
- Mechanical engineer – $85,298 median salary (32% remote/hybrid)
- Chief financial officer (CFO) – $84,358 median salary (20% remote/hybrid)
- Associate dean (education) – $84,246 median salary (7% remote/hybrid)
- Technical sales representative – $81,750 median salary (35% remote/hybrid)
- Administrative officer – $81,173 median salary (17% remote/hybrid)
Many of these roles offer competitive salaries and increasing remote/hybrid work opportunities, reflecting shifting workplace trends in Canada
65% of workers now feel empowered to decline extra work: Report
A recent study by Resume Now reveals that 65% of workers feel empowered to decline extra work, with younger employees (25 and under) reporting the highest levels of empowerment at 77%. Despite this, burnout and mental health challenges persist, especially among younger workers and women. The survey also found that 59% of workers frequently experience burnout due to difficulty saying "no" to extra work, and 28% have left a job due to stress or burnout. This highlights the ongoing struggle to balance workload expectations with personal well-being.
Employers spending on wellbeing benefits declines further in 2024: Report
Employer investment in wellbeing benefits has taken a sharp dip—down 13% since 2022 and 10% in 2024 alone, according to a global survey. instead, companies seem to be shifting their focus to core benefits. is this a reset or a retreat?
20 employers banned from Temporary Foreign Worker Program
A total of 20 employers have been banned from using the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program as the federal government intensifies its efforts to protect the health and safety of temporary foreign workers.
The number comes from the inspections conducted by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) between April 1 and Sept. 30, 2024. The number of employers banned is a fivefold increase from the same timespan the previous year, according to the government.
2025 salary increase budget forecast: a more cautious approach anticipated for 2025
Canadian employers are scaling back salary increase budgets for 2025, moving closer to pre-pandemic norms, according to findings from Normandin Beaudry’s 2025 Salary Increase Pulse Survey.
About 68% of organizations reported no change to their initial salary increase budgets for 2025, while 32% indicated adjustments.
Among those making changes, more than half are reducing their budgets, while the remainder are increasing them, finds the survey. Overall, the national average salary increase budget has dropped slightly from the summer projection of 3.4% to 3.3%, excluding wage freezes.
2 employees charged with defrauding cellphone company of $900K.
Simran Sachdeva, & Hirday Malhotra have been charged in Abbotsford with defrauding a cellphone company of nearly $900,000.
Sgt. Paul Walker, media officer with the Abbotsford Police Department, said police were notified in October 2023 of possible fraudulent activity involving two employees of a cellular store in the 2800 block of Gladwin Road.
Walker said the investigation by the major crime unit revealed that hundreds of fake cellular accounts had been created from June to October 2023.
Case Law Round Up
Want your Severance? Sign here. (Or don’t, & win $450k in court). Timmins v. Artisan Cells
In Timmins v. Artisan Cells (2024 ONSC 7123), Justice Callaghan addressed a case where the Ontario employment contract stipulated a payment of three months’ salary in the event of a without-cause dismissal.
However, the employer refused to pay the agreed amount unless the plaintiff signed a release, which he declined to do. As a result, the employer only provided one week of termination pay, despite the employee’s minimum entitlement under the ESA being three weeks.
The Court ruled that the employer had repudiated the contract, making the termination clause unenforceable. Consequently, the plaintiff was entitled to common law reasonable notice.
The Court ultimately awarded nine months’ notice to the 44-year-old Vice President, who had 3.5 years of service.
More: At the time of this newsletter, the case is not yet available online. Search Timmins v. Artisan Cells, 2024 ONSC 7123.
Advice to employers: don’t assume ‘i’m done’ means ‘i quit’. It could cost you $350k.
A Saskatchewan court has ruled that an employee's utterance of 'i'm done' during a heated meeting did not constitute a resignation. The employer's subsequent actions led to a wrongful dismissal finding, resulting in nearly $350,000 in damages.
Dugault v. ignace - Take 2: Ontario Court uphelds termination clause invalidation.
The Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld a significant decision invalidating certain termination clauses in employment contracts that failed to comply with the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). This ruling emphasizes the necessity for employers to meticulously review their employment agreements and related policies to ensure alignment with ESA requirements. The decision underscores the critical importance of employers regularly reviewing their employment agreements, and particularly the termination provisions therein, to ensure continued enforceability and compliance with the ESA.
Escalation and dishonesty: BC worker's termination justified, says arbitrator.
A British Columbia employer’s decision to terminate a long-serving employee was upheld after the worker escalated a workplace conflict and misled investigators. The arbitrator ruled that dishonesty in the investigation was the more serious offense.
Another happy dance for employers: Yet another Ontario termination clause upheld.
In the recent Bertsch v. Datastealth Inc., 2024 ONSC 5593 decision, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice upheld the enforceability of a "with or without cause" termination provision that limited the employee's entitlement on termination of employment to the minimum standards set out in the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the "ESA").
The decision is a welcome development for employers as it represents a departure from the Ontario court's reluctance to enforce termination without cause provisions in recent years.
Alta employer's early termination of relocated worker results in six-month notice award.
A company that convinced an employee to relocate from another province and then terminated her after two years has been ordered to provide six months' notice and damages. The case underscores the legal consequences of inducement in employment contracts.
Court orders WestJet to hand over flight attendant harassment files.
The Supreme Court of British Columbia has directed WestJet Airlines Ltd. to produce additional harassment complaint files related to flight attendants, rejecting the airline’s attempt to limit document production.
The case, a certified class-action lawsuit, centers on allegations that WestJet breached flight attendants' employment contracts by failing to implement a promised anti-harassment program.
The court’s order, issued by Justice Jacqueline Hughes on Dec. 11, 2024, requires WestJet to produce all harassment complaints made by flight attendants between April 4, 2014, and Feb. 28, 2021, including those from class members who opted out of the lawsuit.
HR Tip of the Month
Reverse Mentorship
Looking for a fresh way to foster innovation and leadership development in your organization? Try implementing a Reverse Mentorship program! Pair junior employees with senior executives to create a two-way exchange of knowledge and perspectives. For example: younger employees can offer insights into emerging trends, technology, and new ways of thinking, while senior leaders provide strategic and leadership guidance.
Melina Laird is Operations Coordinator for ConnectsUs HR, a company that provides tools & resources to quickly set up a Human Resources department.
You can contact her here.
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