My Employee Was Charged with a Criminal Offence. What now?
Employers faced with an employee who has suddenly landed in jail are typically paralyzed with what the heck to do next. It’s easy to see how criminal and employment legal issues start to commingle in that case, but there are many other situations less dramatic where an employer needs to navigate through the tricky world of criminal law.
And then add in a global pandemic where the courts are largely on pause. Here are some tips on how to handle a criminal law matter in your workplace.
1. Expect and Plan for Delays
Criminal matters often take longer than expected. The justice system is a process that moves at its own pace. As a result of COVID-19, Courts have largely put non-urgent criminal matters on hold. Jury trials have been suspended until the fall, and Judge alone trials are on hold until at least July.
As many of our readers and clients know, we have been cautioning that the legality of certain layoffs and job changes necessitated by COVID-19 is uncertain. Generally, layoffs are only legal if the employment contract gives the employer the right to layoff, and many other job changes, such as reductions in hours or pay, raise the risk of constructive dismissal. We anticipated that at some point the Ontario government may weigh in and change the law – on Friday they did. 
Ontario potentially has another new COVID-19 related law on the horizon, this time related to worker’s compensation. On May 19, 
This week in Ontario many businesses are re-opening. Employers and employees alike have questions about going back to work and the intersection of re-starting businesses with the various government subsidies that have been tiding many people over. 
