September 2026 Workplace Recap – September 30, 2026
Enjoy our latest edition of Workplace Recap for Canadian employers.
Legislation Updates
HR News
Case Law Round Up
Legislation Updates
Bill C-39: Ottawa wants to rewrite the rules on strikes, wage theft & successor rights
Bill C-39 would make significant changes to the Canada Labour Code for federally regulated workplaces. Proposed changes include extending the conciliation period from 60 to 90 days, adding new dispute-resolution measures, putting a clearer framework around federal intervention in major labour disputes, strengthening enforcement against employee misclassification and wage theft, and expanding successor rights when certain airport and air-transportation contracts change hands. The bill has been introduced but is not yet law.
Hiring an apprentice? Ottawa will pay employers up to $10,000
Small and medium-sized employers will be eligible for up to $10,000 when they hire and train a first-year apprentice in an eligible Red Seal trade under the new Build Canada Apprenticeship Service. The broader federal plan also includes additional supports designed to recruit, train and retain more skilled tradespeople.
Another province ditches the twice-a-year clock change
Manitoba is ending seasonal clock changes and moving to permanent daylight time. Nov. 1, 2026 will be the first time Manitobans don’t turn their clocks back. It joins B.C. and Yukon in staying on daylight time year-round, while Saskatchewan has long stayed on standard time year-round. For employers operating across provinces, the growing patchwork creates another scheduling, payroll and time-sensitive operations issue to watch.
B.C. wants psychological hazards treated like safety hazards
WorkSafeBC is proposing a new regulatory framework requiring B.C. employers to identify, assess and control psychosocial hazards that could cause psychological injury. Proposed requirements include written risk assessments, worker consultation, control measures, regular reviews and training. The proposal would also consolidate and strengthen requirements around workplace violence and harassment.
These are proposed changes, not yet requirements in force.
5 provinces hike minimum wage Oct. 1.
Five provinces are increasing their general minimum wage on Oct. 1, 2026:
- Manitoba: $16.00 → $16.40
- Nova Scotia: $16.75 → $17.00
- Ontario: $17.60 → $17.95
- Prince Edward Island: $17.00 → $17.30
- Saskatchewan: $15.35 → $15.70
Employers in those provinces should make sure payroll rates, job postings and any other wage references are updated for Oct. 1.
|
Alberta |
$15.00 |
|
British Columbia |
$18.25 |
|
Manitoba |
$16.40 |
|
New Brunswick |
$15.90 |
|
Newfoundland & Labrador |
$16.35 |
|
Nova Scotia |
$17.00 |
|
Ontario |
$17.95 |
|
Prince Edward Island |
$17.30 |
|
Quebec |
$16.60 |
|
Saskatchewan |
$15.70 |
Hit by U.S. tariffs? Ontario just widened access to $1B in support
Ontario has expanded eligibility for 2 tariff-relief programs as new U.S. trade measures hit more Canadian exports. The $1-billion Protect Ontario Financing Program provides loans to help qualifying businesses cover working-capital costs such as payroll, leases and utilities. The $150-million Ontario Together Trade Fund supports investments aimed at finding new markets, expanding interprovincial trade and reshoring supply chains.
Newly affected sectors include certain steel and aluminum products, furniture, mattresses, paper products, motorboats, golf carts, dairy and specialty cheese, leather products, alcoholic beverages and large motorcycles.
Need AI skills? Ottawa launches free training for up to 1 million Canadians
Ottawa has launched a new National AI Literacy Initiative offering free, practical AI training across Canada.
- A free 3-hour AI literacy course for post-secondary students
- Training and classroom resources for K-12 educators
- Free AI learning for Canadians through participating community organizations
- Short-duration AI courses for workers and job seekers through Job Bank’s Training Finder
- Training on using AI responsibly, assessing AI-generated information and recognizing risks such as bias, misinformation and privacy concerns
The initiative is expected to reach up to 1 million post-secondary students and more than 50,000 K-12 educators.
Manitoba employers: free menstrual products are now a workplace requirement
As of Sept. 1, 2026, Manitoba employers must provide menstrual products to workers at no cost. The requirements apply even if no current workers are known to menstruate.
Employers must:
- Provide both pads and tampons at no cost.
- Make them available in washrooms used by workers, regardless of whether the washroom is designated male, female or universal.
- If that isn’t reasonably practicable, provide them somewhere workers can access at all times with reasonable privacy.
- Make the products available without requiring workers to ask for them.
- Keep a covered disposal container near each toilet.
- Keep products stocked and available.
Administrative penalties for non-compliance can range from $1,000 to $5,000, depending on the contravention and whether it is repeated.
Got a skilled labour shortage? Ottawa has up to $10M for projects that help fix it
Applications are open for Ottawa’s new Sectoral Workforce Innovation Fund, aimed at tackling skilled labour shortages in priority sectors across Canada.
- Funding of up to $10 million per project for projects lasting up to 36 months.
- Projects can include accelerated training, micro-credentials, skills assessments, certification programs and other workforce solutions.
- Priority areas include construction, transportation, advanced manufacturing, energy, mining, the care economy, defence and major national projects.
- For-profit businesses can apply, but the project cannot simply benefit one company. It must involve a broader collaborative workforce initiative.
- Applications are being accepted on a continuous basis until funding runs out.
Quebec’s new secularism rules ban prayer in covered public workplaces
Effective Sept. 1, 2026, Quebec prohibits religious practices in locations under the authority of public institutions and organizations covered by the province’s secularism law. The prohibition applies to individual and group religious practices, and covers both employees and people receiving public services.
The rules apply to covered government and public-sector locations, including their buildings, premises and grounds. They do not create a general ban on prayer in private-sector workplaces. Certain locations are exempt or subject to different rules.
HR News
Canada sheds 42,000 jobs in August, but unemployment holds at 6.4%
Canada lost 42,000 jobs in August, pushing the employment rate down to 60.8%. The unemployment rate held steady at 6.4%. Youth employment fell by 19,000, while Quebec lost 19,000 jobs and Ontario lost 18,000. Average hourly wage growth slowed to 2.0% year over year.
Credit union CEO posts private “Lake America” photo. Backlash erupts. Employer responds.
Family First Credit Union CEO Jane Smith is no longer with the Michigan credit union after an AI-generated family photo showing “Lake America” sweatshirts went viral. Smith said the image was created as a joke, posted to her private Facebook page with an AI label, and was never intended as a political statement or insult to Canadians. A relative later reposted a screenshot publicly without the AI label. Family First called the post unacceptable and later announced Smith was no longer an employee. The credit union has not said whether she resigned or was terminated, or whether the viral post directly caused her departure.
Loyalty isn’t paying: Job switchers are getting nearly twice the pay growth
New ADP Canada data shows workers who changed jobs saw 5.6% growth in base pay over the past year, compared with just 3.0% for employees who stayed put. The gap was even wider when overtime, bonuses and other earnings were included: gross pay rose 9.6% for job changers versus 4.4% for job stayers.
The findings are based on anonymized payroll data from approximately 1.6 million Canadian private-sector workers each month.
AI skills are becoming a must-have for Canadian job candidates
AI literacy is quickly becoming a hiring requirement. 80% of Canadian hiring managers now look for at least basic AI skills, while 53% expect candidates to have intermediate skills or better. Employers aren’t just looking for people who can use AI. They want candidates who understand privacy and security, can evaluate AI output for accuracy, recognize bias and communicate AI-generated information effectively.
Poor health & caregiving cost Canada more than $100 billion in lost productivity
Poor health and caregiving responsibilities are taking a massive bite out of Canada’s workforce. Deloitte estimates they cost the economy more than $100 billion in lost output in 2025, including $55.1 billion tied to illness and time away from work and $48.5 billion in lost labour income from unpaid caregiving. Deloitte estimates that reducing these barriers by just 25% could recover more than $25 billion annually.
Synagogue shooter was suing military over COVID vaccine discharge
Sean Ward, the former Canadian Armed Forces corporal who carried out the Sept. 20 attack outside a Belleville synagogue, was suing the military for $1 million after being discharged in 2022 for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine on religious grounds. His Federal Court claim alleged roughly $140,000 in financial losses plus psychological and other harm resulting from the discharge. The federal government denied the allegations and defended the military’s vaccination policy.
Think you know who you’re hiring? 68% of job seekers say they change their personality at work
A new Canadian survey found 68% of job seekers have changed aspects of their personality to fit workplace culture, while 59% say their work personality is very different from who they are outside work.
- 84% consider adapting to workplace culture a core professional skill.
- 89% believe employees who can’t or won’t adapt are less likely to stay long term.
- 94% of hiring managers say personality affects how performance is perceived.
- But 53% of job seekers say expecting employees to change their personality to fit in is unfair.
The findings are based on a Harris Poll survey of 508 Canadian job seekers conducted for Express Employment Professionals.
Case Law Round Up
Ontario: Never hired him. Still owed 10 months’ notice.
When a new property-management company took over a building-services contract, it declined to hire the incumbent building manager. It paid him only his statutory termination entitlement. The Ontario Court of Appeal confirmed that Ontario’s special successor-employer rules for building services made the incoming provider responsible for common-law reasonable notice as well, even though it had never actually employed him in the ordinary sense.
The result: $78,925 representing 10 months’ notice, plus lost benefits.
Ontario: Can’t do every old duty after disability leave? That doesn’t mean the contract is frustrated.
A 17-year employee returned from disability leave with physical restrictions and was told his former road-boss position was gone. His employer offered him a lower-paid tow-truck driver job and later argued that his original employment contract had been frustrated.
The Ontario Court of Appeal rejected that argument. The employee’s essential managerial duties remained capable of accommodation and there was a reasonable prospect of returning to fuller duties. His constructive-dismissal finding and 22-month notice period stood. The employer did win one important point: a company tow truck and cellphone were work tools, not compensable benefits, reducing the damages by $125,640.
Ontario: Temporary layoff clause survives. Constructive dismissal claim doesn’t.
The Ontario Court of Appeal confirmed that a properly drafted temporary-layoff clause can stand on its own even when separate termination language in the same employment agreement is unenforceable. The fact that the layoff clause appeared under a “Termination” heading did not turn it into a termination clause. Because the agreement validly permitted an ESA-compliant temporary layoff, the employee’s layoff did not amount to constructive dismissal.
Ontario: Think they’re an independent contractor? New decisions confirm you may be wrong
Two recent Ontario Labour Relations Board decisions found the workers involved were genuine independent contractors, but they reinforce the bigger lesson: the label in the agreement doesn’t decide the issue.
In one case, an engineer invoiced through his corporation and charged HST even though immigration-related letters had described him as an employee. In the other, a physician’s relationship contained mixed factors, but his corporate structure and opportunity for profit supported contractor status. Courts and tribunals look at the actual relationship, including control, financial risk, ownership of tools, integration and opportunity for profit or loss.
Fiyinfolu Tokode v. S&T Automation Controls Ltd.
Ivan Escudero v. Jack Nathan Functional Health Inc.
Ontario: Interfere with a union drive? You could end up unionized without a vote.
The Ontario Labour Relations Board found Steam Whistle Brewery unlawfully interfered with an organizing campaign, including terminating an employee active in the campaign and disciplining another. The Board concluded the conduct created a chilling effect that could not be repaired by simply holding a representation vote.
The remedy was significant: the Board certified SEIU Local 2 as the bargaining agent without a vote.
Ontario: Former GM joins a competitor. Employer loses injunction but gets employee’s personal devices imaged.
A former general manager joined a competing business shortly after leaving his employer, which alleged violations of non-solicitation and confidentiality obligations and sought an injunction.
The Ontario Superior Court refused the broad injunction. However, concerns remained about company information on the former employee’s personal devices and iCloud account, so the Court ordered limited forensic imaging to identify, return and delete company information. The defendants were also awarded $35,000 in costs after being largely successful on the motion.
Ontario: Employer skips human rights hearing. Tribunal awards $15K anyway.
An Ontario environmental-remediation company did not attend its Human Rights Tribunal hearing. The hearing proceeded without it.
The Tribunal found the employer liable for disability-related harassment after supervisors mocked an injured worker and awarded $15,000 for injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect, plus interest. But the employee did not win everything: his failure-to-accommodate, reprisal and discriminatory-pay claims were dismissed. The employer was also ordered to post a copy of the Ontario Human Rights Code in the workplace.
Alberta: Secret workplace bathroom recording creates a new Alberta privacy tort
A Government of Alberta employee discovered she had been secretly recorded while using a workplace bathroom. The person responsible later pleaded guilty to voyeurism.
In BD v. Germain, the Alberta Court of King’s Bench expressly recognized the tort of intrusion upon seclusion for the first time in Alberta. The tort can provide a civil remedy for an intentional or reckless, unjustified invasion of someone’s private affairs that a reasonable person in the victim’s position would regard as highly offensive. The employer was not the defendant in this case, but the ruling has obvious implications for workplace privacy complaints and investigations.
Alberta: Fired 8 years ago. Tribunal orders reinstatement.
An Alberta employee who was terminated in 2017 after experiencing disability discrimination has been ordered reinstated more than 8 years later. The University of Alberta argued that her former position no longer existed and too much time had passed. The Tribunal disagreed and ordered the University to make reasonable efforts to place her in a reasonably equivalent position and restore employment-related entitlements including seniority, pension contributions and benefits. Reinstatement is unusual in human rights cases, which makes this one particularly notable.
Alberta: Cut commissions & add 12 hours a week? That’s constructive dismissal & 22 months notice.
Two long-serving Alberta dealership finance managers saw their compensation structure changed and their weekly hours rise from roughly 38 to 50. The Court found the changes substantially altered the employment relationship and amounted to constructive dismissal
One employee, with about 21 years of service, received 22 months’ reasonable notice. The other, with about 13 years, received 15 months, plus applicable vacation pay and subject to mitigation.
Alberta: 13 months’ working notice wasn’t enough. Court says 20.
A 24-year Alberta employee was given 13 months of working notice before his employment was scheduled to end. Partway through that period he became unable to work, eventually receiving long-term disability benefits.
The Court found the proper reasonable-notice period was 20 months, not 13, and rejected the argument that receiving LTD automatically wiped out the employer’s wrongful-dismissal liability. Whether the disability payments should ultimately be deducted from his damages could not be decided because the actual disability policy had not been put into evidence.
Alberta: 37 years of service. Termination formula only counts 27.
An employee worked for Tourism Calgary for 37 years, but about 10 years into her employment she signed a new contract containing a termination formula of 1 month for each completed year of service.
The Alberta Court of King’s Bench interpreted that later agreement as replacing the previous contractual arrangement and calculated the formula from the date of the newer contract, not her original hire date. The result was 27 months rather than the 36 months she sought. The decision is an important reminder that later employment agreements can materially change how prior service is treated, provided the agreement is enforceable.
BC: GPS + Strava expose 29 hours of extra breaks. Employee still gets job back.
A City of Coquitlam arborist was fired after vehicle GPS records, combined with publicly available Strava activity, showed nearly 29 hours of excess break time across 14 workdays. The arbitrator found the employee had engaged in misconduct and that discipline was justified, but termination was too severe. He was reinstated without back pay. The union’s privacy grievance over the use of the GPS and Strava information was also dismissed.
BC: Best Buy restructures during an accommodation process. Tribunal awards $60K+
Best Buy legitimately eliminated an assistant store leader’s position during a corporate restructuring. The problem was what happened next. The employee had a medically supported disability accommodation underway and had made it clear he wanted to remain employed. The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal found Best Buy failed to adequately consider reassignment, transfer, demotion or other available accommodation before terminating him. It ordered $38,746.65 in lost wages, $1,589 in expenses and $20,000 for injury to dignity, plus interest.
BC: CEO’s discriminatory comments & stripped duties lead to an $85K award
A B.C. marketing employee challenged comments made by his CEO that the Human Rights Tribunal found connected to his identity as an Iranian Muslim man. Shortly afterward, the CEO directed him to permanently transfer most of his responsibilities to another employee, leaving him with little meaningful work.
The Tribunal found the conduct and reassignment amounted to discriminatory constructive dismissal and ordered the company and CEO to pay $45,000 in lost wages plus $40,000 for injury to dignity, for a total of $85,000.
Saskatchewan: Gas-line strikes trigger drug tests. Court says testing wasn’t justified.
SaskEnergy required 5 employees to undergo post-incident drug and alcohol testing after 2 separate gas-line strikes. Every test came back negative.
An arbitrator found the employer did not have an adequate basis under its own policy to require the testing and awarded the workers between $1,500 and $2,000 each. The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal upheld the result, rejecting SaskEnergy’s appeal.
Nova Scotia: Drunk on duty aboard a ferry. Fired. Reinstated anyway.
An 18-year Marine Atlantic engineer brought vodka aboard a vessel, became intoxicated while on duty in a safety-sensitive workplace, initially denied drinking and refused a breath test. The employer fired him.
An arbitrator found termination was excessive and substituted roughly a 17-month unpaid suspension, reinstatement and significant conditions, including random testing and searches. Marine Atlantic challenged the result, but the Nova Scotia Supreme Court found the arbitrator’s decision reasonable and let the reinstatement stand.
Melina Laird is the Operations Coordinator for Sienna HR, a company that provides practical HR services and support to Canadian small businesses.
You can contact her here.