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Contracting Out Long-Term Care to a New Private Facility Was Not a Successorship
The BC Labour Relations Board has dismissed applications by three health sector unions seeking a declaration that a privately operated care home in Sechelt was a successor employer to Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH). The decision confirms that a transfer of work, residents and even many staff are not enough to trigger successorship where the essential…
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Court Sets the Lanes for Intervenors in Nurse’s Off-Duty Speech Appeal
The BC Supreme Court has granted four of five organizations leave to intervene, on limited grounds, in a nurse’s statutory appeal of a discipline decision finding that her online statements about transgender people amounted to unprofessional conduct. The ruling is procedural, but it frames how the court will approach the merits of an important case…
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Court Upholds Two-Stream Residency Matching System, but Return of Service Obligations Need Statutory Footing
In a lengthy judgment, the BC Supreme Court has largely dismissed a challenge to the two-stream system that gives graduates of Canadian medical schools substantially better access to residency positions in British Columbia than Canadians who studied medicine abroad. The applications against the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Health Professions Review Board and UBC…
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No Just Cause for Any Discipline – Care Aide’s Discharge Overturned After Employer Investigated Only After the Fact
Arbitrator Christopher Sullivan has found that a long-term care employer did not have just cause to impose any discipline, let alone discharge, on a care aide whose termination was based on unsubstantiated allegations and an investigation conducted only after she was terminated.
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No Shortcut to Arbitration – Board Sets Essential Services and Directs Strike or Lockout in SN Transport First Contract Dispute
In two related decisions issued less than two weeks apart, the BC Labour Relations Board first designated essential services on consent at SN Transport Ltd., a provider of non-emergency hospital patient transfer services, and then rejected the Employer’s request for binding first contract arbitration, directing that the parties resolve their outstanding wage dispute through a…
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Nurses Working as Triage Coordinators Are Not in the Nurses’ Bargaining Unit Where Licensure Is Not Required
The BC Labour Relations Board dismissed an application by the BC Nurses’ Union to include licensed registered nurses working as Triage Coordinators in the nurses’ bargaining unit. The decision clarifies what it means for nursing authorization to be “a requirement of the employer” under the Health Authorities Act.
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Questioning Whether Performance Issues Are Disability-Related Is Not the Same as Perceiving a Disability
Following a three-day hearing, the BC Human Rights Tribunal dismissed a nurse’s complaint that her employer discriminated against her based on a perceived mental disability when it placed her on administrative leave and reported her to her professional regulator. The decision provides helpful guidance for employers managing performance concerns that may, or may not, have…
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A Human Rights Complaint Is Not a Shield Against Discipline – Paramedic’s Sex Discrimination and Retaliation Complaint Dismissed
After a seven-day hearing, the BC Human Rights Tribunal has dismissed, in its entirety, a paramedic’s complaint that BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) discriminated against her based on sex and then retaliated against her for filing a human rights complaint. The decision is a helpful reminder that employers may continue to manage and discipline employees…
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WorkSafeBC Could Cancel, but Not Unilaterally Alter, Work-at-Home Arrangements
Arbitrator J. Najeeb Hassan has upheld a union policy grievance, finding that WorkSafeBC breached the collective agreement when it unilaterally implemented a new hybrid work model in 2025. The award is a significant one for employers looking to bring employees back to the office where remote work has been negotiated into the collective agreement.
The Pulse: BC Case Law
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