Edmonton Employment Law

One of the common issues I've been seeing pop up - I've dealt with it a number of times in recent days - is employers asking employees to sign new employment contracts with reduced compensation and/or hours. There are a bunch of different variations of this: Some expressly threaten a full layoff if you don't sign; some impliedly threaten it.  Some are reducing compensation for 'furloughed' employees to just equal the amount of the subsidy available from CEWS; some are reducing compensation for actively employed workers. But let's talk for a minute about these in general terms. Why Do Employers Want Employees to Sign? Earlier in the pandemic, I posted a commentary that employers may be liable for constructive dismissal if they send their workers home without pay .  There's really an open question as whether or not some employers might get relief against that doctrine because of the extraordinary nature of the pandemic (we call it 'frustration of

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are going to be a number of areas of our infrastructure that will undergo close scrutiny.  One of the casualties of the pandemic will be our EI framework. EI has never been perfect.  Indeed, for several months, I've had a draft blog entry on the go where I argue that EI and CPP contributions are regressive taxes.  (In a nutshell, the point is this:  On your first 50-something thousand dollars of income, you and your employer both pay a pretty penny into EI and CPP.  After that, you don't.  Which means that, within certain income classes - that vary from Province to Province - higher earners get to keep a higher proportion of their gross income.) And that whole "employee versus independent contractor" perennial controversy?  In Canada, the most common measurable benefit to an employer (/payor) under such an arrangement is the avoidance of EI and CPP contributions (though the CPP portion generally just gets downloaded onto