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The Pulse

INAUGURAL ISSUE • SPRING 2026

Welcome to The Pulse

The Pulse is Mathews Dinsdale & Clark LLP’s newsletter for healthcare employers — published to keep you ahead of the legislative changes, arbitration awards, and court decisions that shape how you hire, manage, discipline, and bargain.

Mathews Dinsdale is Canada’s only coast-to-coast management-side labour and employment law firm. Our lawyers represent healthcare employers of every size across the country — in collective bargaining, interest arbitration, grievance and discipline, human rights, privacy, and employment litigation — giving us a national view of where the law is moving.

This inaugural issue covers Ontario hospital arbitration decisions, HLDAA wage award trends, Alberta developments including wrongful dismissal litigation at AHS and a physician wage arbitration, BC duty of fair representation and human rights decisions. If you have questions about any of the matters covered, please reach out to a member of our team.

OUR OFFICES

Canada’s only coast-to-coast management-side labour & employment law firm

ONTARIO HOSPITAL EMPLOYMENT & LABOUR DISPUTES

HOSPITAL CASE LAW UPDATE

Ontario Hospital Cases: Attendance Management, Management Rights, Staffing Crises, and More

This issue covers twelve recent decisions from Ontario hospitals and health authorities — including a reinstatement after 21 years under a mechanically applied attendance program, a management rights win requiring PSW registration with a new provincial oversight body, a staffing crisis that justified bypassing union consultation with surgeries on the line, and the limits of union document disclosure requests. Also covered: overtime threshold disputes, interest arbitration at Quinte Health and Groves Memorial, an OLRB certification challenge for IT Help Desk workers, and the steep cost of letting a grievance go silent for 16 months.

ATTENDANCE MANAGEMENT

MANAGEMENT RIGHTS

STAFFING & SCHEDULING

INTEREST ARBITRATION

OVERTIME

CERTIFICATION

GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE

DOCUMENT DISCLOSURE

CENTRAL AWARD

13

Cases
Summarized

ONTARIO • HLDAA INTEREST ARBITRATION • LTC & RETIREMENT HOMES

ONTARIO · HLDAA INTEREST ARBITRATION · JANUARY – MARCH 2026

Wage Award Trends in Long-Term Care and Retirement Homes

3.5% is the firmly established norm for general wage increases across both LTC and retirement home sectors — but emerging uncertainty for 2026 and beyond, mid-term catch-up disputes, and classification-specific adjustments are reshaping the landscape.

3.5%
GWI NORM
2024 & 2025

+1%
MID-TERM
CATCH-UP ISSUE

2.0%
2026 EMERGING
UNCERTAINTY

READ FULL CASE SUMMARY REPORT →

PROVINCIAL CASE LAW UPDATE

Alberta
5 CASES

Alberta Case Law Update

Wrongful dismissal litigation involving the former CEO of Alberta Health Services, a human rights ruling on the limits of the grievance process, binding arbitration awarding physicians a 3% wage increase (against an ask of 13.6%), a pharmacist who accessed and disclosed a subordinate’s health information without authorization, and a just cause termination upheld after a pattern of dishonesty.

WRONGFUL DISMISSAL

HUMAN RIGHTS

BINDING ARBITRATION

PRIVACY

JUST CAUSE

VIEW ALL ALBERTA CASES →

British Columbia
4 CASES

BC Case Law Update

Two duty of fair representation decisions arising from COVID-19 vaccine mandate terminations at Fraser Health and Providence Health Care, a human rights retaliation complaint dismissed for lack of connection between the impugned conduct and the original complaint, and an arbitration standing decision for a paramedic whose promotion was the subject of a union grievance.

DUTY OF FAIR REPRESENTATION

COVID-19 VACCINE MANDATE

HUMAN RIGHTS – RETALIATION

THIRD-PARTY STANDING

VIEW ALL BC CASES →