by Dev User | May 31, 2018 | Charity & Not-for-Profit Law, Expertise, Information Technology Law
On May 24, 2018, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (“OPC”) published two new guidance documents designed to help organizations comply with their privacy obligations in an online environment: the “Guidelines for obtaining meaningful consent,” and the “Guidance on inappropriate data practices: Interpretation and application of subsection 5(3).” This Charity & NFP Law Bulletin provides an overview of both documents, which the OPC states are intended to improve the consent model under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.
For the balance of this Bulletin, please see Charity & NFP Law Bulletin No. 422.
by Dev User | May 31, 2018 | Employment Law, Expertise
May 2018 Charity & NFP Law Update
On May 7, 2018, the Ontario government announced that, following feedback from stakeholders and as part of the government’s on-going response to the Changing Workplaces Review (CWR), the Ministry of Labour would review the public holiday system under Part X of Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”). In this regard, on the same day, the government released Ontario Regulation 375/18 under the ESA as an interim measure to reinstate the public holiday pay formula recently amended by the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017 (“Bill 148”), discussed in Charity & NFP Law Bulletin No 411. The government also indicated that submissions regarding the public holiday pay review can be sent via email to [email protected].
Before the amendments introduced by Bill 148, section 24(1)(a) of the ESA provided that an employee’s public holiday pay was “the total amount of regular wages earned and vacation pay payable to the employee in the four work weeks before the work week in which the public holiday occurred, divided by 20”. Effective January 1, 2018, Bill 148 amended this calculation to “the total amount of regular wages earned in the pay period immediately preceding the public holiday, divided by the number of days the employee worked in that period”.
Because clause 24(1)(b) of the ESA allows the government to prescribe some other manner of calculation by regulation, Regulation 375/18, which will come into force on July 1, 2018, reinstates the public holiday pay formula in section 24(1)(a) of the ESA before the amendments introduced by Bill 148. In this regard, public holiday pay during the first half of the year was subject to the new formula, but public holiday pay during the second half of the year should return to the old formula.
Regulation 375/18 is scheduled to be revoked on December 31, 2019 if no other action is taken by the government before that time. Charities and not-for-profits subject to the ESA should continue to monitor these developments, as it is unclear how soon another change may be expected from the public holiday pay review.
Read the May 2018 Charity & NFP Law Update
by Dev User | May 31, 2018 | Employment Law, Expertise
May 2018 Charity & NFP Law Update
On June 2, 2017 (and as reported in the Ontario Reports on April 6, 2018) the Court of Appeal for Ontario released its decision in Ivic v Lakovic (“Ivic”). This significant decision reviews the principles of vicarious liability of employers for wrongful acts of their employees, which were considered in the leading 1999 SCC decision in Bazley v Curry. In Ivic, the appellant was a customer seeking damages against a taxi company for the alleged sexual assault perpetrated by one of its employee drivers. The court upheld the decision of the motion judge, which dismissed the claim against the taxi company. This case provides a current perspective on the factors that courts will consider when imposing vicarious liability on employers, including charities and not-for-profits, for intentional wrongs committed by their employees.
For the balance of this Bulletin, please see Charity & NFP Law Bulletin No. 423.
Read the May 2018 Charity & NFP Law Update
by Dev User | May 31, 2018 | Uncategorized
May 2018 Charity & NFP Law Update
Bill C-59 Amended by Committee
On May 3, 2018, Bill C-59, National Security Act, 2017 (“Bill C-59”), which had been referred to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (the “Committee”) before second reading, was reported back to the House of Commons with a number of amendments. Bill C-59, introduced on June 20, 2017, was previously discussed in the June 2017 Charity & NFP Law Update. The amendments made by the Committee include the following:
- The introduction of the new Avoiding Complicity in Mistreatment by Foreign Entities Act, regarding “the disclosure of and request for information that would result in a substantial risk of mistreatment of an individual by a foreign entity and the use of information that is likely to have been obtained as the result of mistreatment of an individual by a foreign entity”;
- Amendments to the Communications Security Establishment Act requiring that the Communications Security Establishment, which is created by the same Act, carry out its activities of foreign intelligence, cybersecurity and information assurance in accordance with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including considerations such as the reasonable expectation of privacy that a Canadian or a person in Canada may have with respect to information acquired;
- A number of technical amendments to the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency Act and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act;
- Several amendment to the Criminal Code, including the broadening of the scope of certain provisions regarding the promotion or counselling of terrorist activities, specifically:
- 83.221(1) Every person who counsels another person to commit a terrorism offence without identifying a specific terrorism offence is guilty of an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years.
- (2) An offence may be committed under subsection (1) whether or not a terrorism offence is committed by the person who is counselled.
While Bill C-59 has yet to pass second reading in the House of Commons, charities and not-for-profits, especially those operating internationally, should continue to monitor its progress and how Bill C-59, if enacted, may affect their operations. Proactive due diligence policies which address both anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism legislation are critical for non-profits and charities, whether working internationally or domestically.
Read the May 2018 Charity & NFP Law Update
