Employer Obligations Continue to Apply Despite COVID-19 Pandemic

May 08, 2020 - Laura Buitendyk

This post is current as of May 7, 2020. Since the situation is rapidly evolving, it is important for employers to continue to check government websites and other information sources to ensure they make decisions with information that is as up to date as possible. The information contained in this blog is relevant only to non-union workers in provincially regulated industries covered by the Employment Standards Act.

On March 23, the BC legislature enacted several changes to the Employment Standards Act. As at the date of this article, these changes have not reduced nor eliminated an employer’s obligations when laying off employees…

Resolving Residential Tenancy Disputes during the COVID-19 Eviction Ban

May 06, 2020 - Brian Cheng

The Ban

British Columbia has banned almost all evictions from March 30, 2020 during the COVID-19 state of emergency.

Now, these reasons to evict tenants are no longer valid:

non-payment of rent; cause (repeated breach of rental agreement); end of employment (e.g., caretaker); landlord’s own use of the property; and tenant no longer qualifying for tenancy (e.g., subsidized rental unit).

Limited exceptions allow landlords to still apply to end tenancies, where the tenant has:

significantly interfered with landlord’s or other occupant’s use of the property; seriously jeopardized health or safety of the landlord or other occupant; or caused extraordinary damage…