Court Upholds Enforceability of Arbitration Clauses in BC Employment Contracts
Wednesday, March 04, 2020 - Filed in: Courts
The BC Supreme Court rejected the employee's argument and stayed the action in favour of arbitration. In doing so, the Court noted a distinction between the wording of the respective "minimum standards" provisions of the BC and Ontario ESA. Regarding the BC ESA, the Court stated that "it is not obvious that a statutory complaint/investigative mechanism becomes an employment standard itself rather than a procedure for enforcing employment standards."
There is a conflict between BC and Ontario. The Ontario case is being appealed to the SCC. Though it is only a guess, my sense is the BC position will prevail, at least for SK.