The grievance arbitration award in Westfair Foods Limited v United Food and Commercial Workers Canada, Local 401, 2024 CanLII 100283 (AB GAA) helps delineate between an employer’s right to contract out bargaining unit work, and where “contracting out” mysteriously becomes “contracting in”. The case highlights the importance of carefully navigating the line between employers filling necessary gaps in their workforce, and unsuspectingly taking on responsibilities for workers they never hired. Additionally, it offers a new, summarized list of factors for arbitrators to consider in answering the question: whose employee is this?

The controversial April 2024 decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Dufault v. The Corporation of the Township of Ignace, 2024 ONSC 1029 (“Dufault”) has been the subject of much discussion and is one of this year’s worst horror stories for employers. It reveals the need for employers to constantly review their employment agreements, to ensure they remain enforceable and compliant with the ever-shifting case law in this area.