A recent Alberta Employment Standards Appeals decision is a good reminder that informal HR practices don’t age well, especially when it comes to vacation, holidays, and salaried employees. In McGonigle v Ocean Fluids Ltd. (2026 ABESAB 3), the Appeal Body had to...
A recent Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) decision is a stark reminder that overtime rules and reprisal protections under the ESA are taken very seriously, and that mistakes in classification, record-keeping, or reactions to employee complaints can quickly become...
Our clients often tell us some version of this: “The issues were obvious. We’d talked to the employee multiple times. They knew there was a problem.” Unfortunately, courts don’t decide cases based on what felt obvious at the time. They decide them based on process,...
Lessons from Vestergaard v Destiny Media Technologies Inc., 2025 BCSC 2093 In October 2025, the British Columbia Supreme Court dismissed all claims brought by Steven Vestergaard, the founder and long-serving CEO of publicly-traded Destiny Media Technologies Inc. The...
Lessons from Garbage King Inc. v Voth, 2025 ABKB 661 The Background – A Classic Small-Business Break-Up Garbage King Inc. was a start-up Calgary waste-management company launched in January 2022. Heather Saunders (President) provided the capital; Brad Voth brought...
Lessons from Tompkins v. Peninsula Grill, 2025 HRTO 2783 The Facts – A Classic Small-Restaurant Nightmare Michelle Tompkins has Cerebral Palsy. She can only safely work 25–30 hours bi-weekly before severe pain, leg seizures, and hand numbness set in. February 2018:...
