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April 2011

• Wrongful Dismissal Action: With the help of Franklin Law, an employee successfully pursued a wrongful dismissal action against his employer in the Superior Court of Justice. Notwithstanding numerous efforts to "educate" the employer about its legal obligations, the employer refused to pay the employee what he deserved, insisting that it had paid the employee an "enhanced" severance package simply because it paid just over two weeks more than it thought it owed him under the Employment Standards Act, 2000. With Ron Franklin representing him, the employee took his fight to court and won a significant victory.

March 2011

• Interlocutory Motion: An employee claimed he was subjected to a long history of race- and disability-based discrimination and harassment which ultimately culminated in his employment being terminated. Not content to allow his employer to get away with this injustice, the employee came to Franklin Law looking for support. With Ron Franklin representing him, the employee filed an action for wrongful dismissal which also included claims for the discrimination-and harassment-based injury he suffered. Included in his pleadings was a long history of the discrimination and harassment his employer subjected him to. After the employer saw the Human Rights Code-based claims - some of which went back to the 1990s - the employer threatened to bring a motion to strike them out if the employee did not remove the allegations from his pleadings immediately. The employee had little financial reserves and the financial downside of losing a motion of the nature the employer threatened to bring was very high but it was also extremely important that the employee had every opportunity to have all of his claims of discrimination and harassment considered and decided by a trial judge. So instead of giving into fear, the employee and Ron Franklin went to court, fought hard to keep the historical allegations in the Statement of Claim, and emerged from the court room with the discrimination and harassment allegations substantially intact. Please stay tuned for further updates regarding this important law suit.
• Speaking Engagement: Ron Franklin was a guest panelist at Osgoode Hall Law School's Information Session on Careers in Social Justice. Together with other panelists, Ron spoke with students about the rewards and challenges of pursuing a social justice oriented career.

February 2011

• Wrongful Dismissal Action: With the assistance of Franklin Law, a worker brought an action in the Superior Court of Justice alleging that he was constructively dismissed and that the employer had failed to accommodate him as required by the Human Rights Code. Ron Franklin filed a detailed Statement of Claim on the worker's behalf. As expected, the employer fired back a lengthy Statement of Defence denying any wrongdoing. Both sides were entrenched in their positions and the chances of resolving the dispute seemed low. Months later, after lengthy negotiations and with Ron Franklin by his side, the employee was able to resolve the dispute without resort to litigation.

September 2010

• Franklin Law is hard at work developing the Employees First series of Guides and Courses: The Employees First series of Guides and Courses will provide workers like you with immediate access to information, specifically geared to helping employees – and only employees – secure justice in the workplace. These Guides and Courses will provide workers like you with at least five key benefits:
  • Benefit #1 - Employees First Guides and Courses will help workers to decide whether or not to represent themselves or hire a lawyer. They will provide a brutally honest overview of the risks and benefits of employees representing themselves, make it clear that there are real risks and benefits when you hire a lawyer, and set out considerations which may make one option more attractive than the other.
  • Benefit #2 - Employees First Guides and Courses will help Workers who want to represent themselves beat Employers when it matters the most, at the Ministry of Labour (MOL), Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB), Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO), Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT), or in Employment Insurance (EI) hearings, Canada Pension Plan (CPP) hearings or Small Claims Court (SCC).
  • Benefit #3 - Employees First Guides and Courses will provide workers with the "know how" to make effective use of their day in "court" and the comfort of knowing that, although they are representing themselves, they are not fighting alone.
  • Benefit #4 - Employees First Guides and Courses will help workers who want to hire a lawyer, choose the right lawyer based on their specific needs not on fear.
  • Benefit #5 - Employees First Guides and Courses will provide all of the benefits set out above in a low cost and accessible manner, giving everyday workers a meaningful opportunity to gain important insight into options and strategies for protecting their rights in the workplace.
• To be clear, Employees First Guides and Courses are nothing like other "do it yourself" or "self help" legal kits. Each Guide is written or Course is presented from a worker's perspective – from your perspective – and includes information that employers, and the lawyers that represent them, would rather you not know. Because the Guides are written and the Courses are delivered with workers in mind, they focus exclusively on the spaces in which battles between employers and their employees most often occur, like the Small Claims Court (SCC), the Ministry of Labour (MOL), the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB), the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO), the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT), Employment Insurance (EI) hearings and Canada Pension Plan (CPP) hearings. Franklin Law is interested in understanding what workers want information about. If you'd like to see Franklin Law develop a Guide or Course around a specific topic, please let us know.
• Wrongful Dismissal Action: Ron Franklin recently represented a personal care worker who was fired. With Mr. Franklin's support, the worker was able to resolve the matter and bring closure to an emotionally taxing dispute.

July 2010

• Ron Franklin finishes his final term on the Board of the Workers' Action Centre: After many years of volunteering as a Board Member at the Workers' Action Center ("the WAC"), Ron Franklin's second and final term came to an end on July 24, 2010. The WAC is a worker-based organization committed to improving the working conditions of workers in precarious employment (e.g., low pay, high risk, unstable). Since its inception, the WAC has been at the forefront of law reform in Ontario and has literally forced the Ministry of Labour, government and politicians to take workers' interests into account. WAC has had many victories. For example, it was instrumental in getting the government to raise the minimum wage and enact Bill 139, a piece of legislation which greatly improved the rights and protections guaranteed to temporary workers. Ron Franklin began volunteering with WAC as a law student, and his experiences there, helped open his eyes to often harsh realities that working people face on a daily basis. Although he is no longer a Board Member, Ron Franklin recognizes the tremendous impact that the WAC has had on his development as a workers' advocate and plans to continue volunteering and staying involved with WAC into the future. For more information about WAC, please click here: http://www.workersactioncentre.org/
• WSIB Reconsideration Request: Ron Franklin is currently representing a worker who advised the WSIB in writing that he wanted to appeal one of its decisions. He did so within the 6-month time limit the WSIB specified. However, years later, when the employee was finally ready to proceed with his appeal, the WSIB told him that he had missed the time limit. That's when he came to Franklin Law. With Ron Franklin's support, the worker requested that the WSIB to reconsider its decision. About a month later, the WSIB gave the worker the "green light" to proceed with his appeal. Many workers rights advocates, Mr. Franklin, will tell you that in their experience reconsideration requests frequently fail. While this case doesn't change that perception, it does reinforce the notion that under the right circumstances, reconsideration requests can be effective.

June 2010

• Franklin Law may have created a human rights law precedent in Ontario by challenging an unsupportive Union: Ron Franklin is currently representing an employee in a duty of fair representation complaint against his Union and a human rights complaint against his employer. In an unfortunate turn of events, the Union attempted to intervene in the employee's human rights complaint against his employer. We say "unfortunate" because the Union, instead of supporting the worker, wanted to question witnesses, present evidence and argue that the employer did not violate the worker's human rights. The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has routinely granted Unions' request to intervene in cases where one of their member employees claims he or she has been discriminated against by the employer. But in our case, such an outcome would have been disastrous as the Union's position was more supportive of the employer than the worker. Franklin Law argued forcefully that the Union had no part to play in the HRTO proceedings because the dispute was between the employee and the employer and that the real reason why the Union wanted to participate was because the employee had previously brought a duty of fair representation complaint against it. In a well reasoned decision, the HRTO denied the Union's request to intervene, and relied on many of the arguments we raised in our lengthy submission. This case is important not only because it provides insight into the legal principles that the HRTO takes into account in deciding whether or not to grant intervenor status to a Union, but also because it may be the first case in Ontario in which the HRTO flatly denied a Union's request to intervene after reviewing submissions from both the worker and the Union. To the extent that this decision sets precedent in Ontario, we expect that it may be of benefit to other employees in situations where their Union remains unsupportive in the face of serious allegations of discrimination. For a copy of the decision (2010 HRTO 1323), please click here.

• Franklin Law looks to set a precedent on the duty to accommodate under Ontario's Human Rights Code: When an employer terminates an employee because of poor performance and the next day becomes aware, for the first time, that the employee's performance may have been affected by a disability, does the Human Rights Code require the employer to revisit their decision to terminate and take steps to investigate the possibility of accommodating the employee? That is the question raised by a worker that Ron Franklin is representing at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. Stay tuned for updates on this important and potentially precedent setting case.

May 2010

• Persistence proves invaluable for wrongfully dismissed employee: When a wrongfully dismissed worker seeks out the assistance of a lawyer, most lawyers will start off by sending a demand letter demanding that the employer provide the employee with compensation. Some employers "call the employee's bluff" and fail to respond or offer to pay much less than the employee deserves. A worker Ron Franklin recently represented was faced with just such a situation. The employee had initially retained another lawyer who sent a demand letter which produced an unsatisfactory outcome. Months later the worker retained Franklin Law. Ron Franklin initiated an action for wrongful dismissal and the employer finally settled for amount that the employee was happy with. This worker's testimonial can be found here and on the Testimonials page.
• Ron Franklin joins the Board of the Osgoode Hall Law School's Alumni Association: In May of 2010, Ron Franklin accepted an invitation to become a member of the Osgoode Hall Law School Alumni Association. He is excited about the prospect of working with other Board Members to support a School and Alumni that has given him so much. For more information about the Alumni Association, please click here.

February 2010

• Ron Franklin speaks with students and faculty at a screening of "Journey to Justice" at Osgoode Hall Law School during Black History Month. Director Roger McTair's film Journey to Justice looks at the battle for civil rights in Canada and the role of law and the people who used it to remove discriminatory laws and practices.
• Ron Franklin was a guest panelist at Osgoode Hall Law School's Information Session on Careers in Social Justice. Together with other panelists, Ron spoke with students about the rewards and challenges of pursuing a social justice oriented career.

December 2009

• Human Rights Application: Ron Franklin represented an Educational Assistant who had been transferred after she complained that a Teacher had discriminated against her on ethno-racial grounds in the fall of 2006. The School Board conducted an investigation and claimed that her human rights had not been violated. In December of 2009, almost three years later, the Application was resolved to the satisfaction of all parties.

November 2009

• Human Rights Application: The Regisford family and the Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board have settled their differences in the "positive stereotyping" case. In a press release dated November 16, 2009, the School Board stated,

  "The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board and the Regisford family have resolved an outstanding Application to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario to the satisfaction of both parties. The Regisfords are encouraged by the board's commitment to diversity and equity, and look forward to the ongoing equity initiatives to be introduced in September 2010."

  Franklin Law represented the Regisford family. Mr. Regisford's son was a student in High School. His son claimed that an English teacher made a stereotypical statement regarding his mother's race. The School Board investigated and claimed that his human rights had not been violated.
  
  Our argument at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario started from the proposition that every School Board has a responsibility to ensure that every student is given an opportunity to derive equal benefit from their educational experience. We believed that in order to satisfy that responsibility in the context of a racially and ethnically diverse student body, a School Board must ensure: (1) that all of its staff are given adequate training on dealing with and discussing issues of race and ethnicity, (2) that criteria related to staff members' understanding and implementation of that training is incorporated into staff members' performance reviews and (3) that when problems do arise, there is an effective and transparent system in place to investigate concerns raised by students, staff and parents and if necessary, hold individuals accountable.

  We argued that Mr. Regisford's son was negatively impacted by the comment he claimed the teacher made. But we also believed that the teacher was impacted in a negative way. We believed that his son and his teacher were put in a very difficult and unfortunate situation because of the manner in which the School Board addressed issues of race and ethnicity in its training, performance reviews and investigations.
  
  After the Human Rights Tribunal heard evidence from all but one of the witnesses Ron Franklin intended to call, the parties agreed to resolve their differences. While the Application against the personal respondents, including the teacher at issue, was ultimately withdrawn and the School Board made no admission of liability, the dispute was resolved to the satisfaction of all parties.

October 2009

• Human Rights Complaint: Ron Franklin is currently representing a student at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario in a novel "positive stereotyping" case.
• Protecting you and your child: Ron Franklin discusses maternal and paternal rights in the workplace.
  Click here for more details.

September 2009

• Franklin Law is now accepting legal aid certificates for employment insurance appeals, workers compensation appeals and for test case litigation. Legal aid certificates are available to workers who meet Legal Aid Ontario's financial eligibility criteria.
  Click here for more details.
• Compensation Appeal: A worker was denied entitlement to workers' compensation benefits after her workplace injury. As time progressed, her condition worsened and the psychological impact of her injury began to take its toll on her. She appealed to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) but was denied again. With Ron Franklin's support and representation, she made an appeal of last resort to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT) and finally obtained the loss of earnings benefits and psychotraumatic disability benefits she was owed but deprived of for many years.
  Click here for more details.

July 2009

• Franklin Law opened its new office in Suite 206 at 181 Eglinton Avenue East in Toronto, Ontario. The office is located on Eglinton Avenue between Yonge Street and Mount Pleasant Road.
  To find Franklin Law on a map click here.

June 2009

• Employment Insurance Appeal: A worker left Ontario believing that he would find employment in Alberta's oil industry. When he realized that there were no jobs, he returned to Ontario and sought employment insurance benefits. When he applied for benefits, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) denied his claim. With Ron Franklin's support and representation, he appealed HRSDC's decision at the Board of Referees and won.
• Ontario Court of Appeal: Ron Franklin was part of a team of lawyers who represented a large group of workers who were deprived of close to $1,000,000 in termination pay and severance pay they were entitled to when their employer filed for bankruptcy. The case was heard at the Ontario Court of Appeal and boiled down to the question of whether or not the employees could rely on section 4 of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 to make other companies that were related to the bankrupt company liable for the termination and severance pay they were owed. Unfortunately, the Court of Appeal was not persuaded by the arguments made on behalf of these courageous and deserving employees.
  Click here for more details.
• Ron Franklin questions whether workers' compensation legislation actually meets the needs of workers it was enacted to protect.
  Click here for more details.

February 2009

• Employment Standards Appeal: Ron Franklin represented a worker whose employment was abruptly ended just hours after voicing concerns about her rights at work. The Ontario Labour Relations Board found that the employer's action constituted reprisals under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 and fined the employer.
  Click here for more details.