London Inc. June 2022 - 20

Upfront Legal Services
BRAVE NEW WORLD
If you think the pandemic redefined your career, consider the topsy-turvy
realm of employment law
SO MUCH OF the experience of this pandemic has centred
around work and labour. The workplace has been, for
many Canadians, the Covid conflict point; the place where
abstract debates about safety, social supports and the things
we should owe each other in crisis times have become real.
Suddenly, in March 2020, it was as if a crisis of Covid and
a crisis of work arrived hand-in-hand.
And, for the most part, workplaces weren't ready for it -
nor were the country's employment laws.
" It's been a crazy time, " reflects employment lawyer
Matt Dewar of Duntrune Law (www.duntrune.law). " Holy
smokes, nobody saw it coming. And when it came for
employment lawyers, it came hard and fast. "
As it did with healthcare, the pandemic prompted
successive work-issue waves, leaving employers and
employees to sort out the messy and often contradictory
business of labour amid a crisis. And as we look ahead to
the post-pandemic environment, answers to a litany of
questions are still taking shape.
" There's three stages that we're dealing with here, " says
Dewar. The first: layoffs.
" When it hit in March 2020, every employer wanted to
know whether they could reduce wages; could they fire
people, could they lay them off, " he explains.
20 | londonincmagazine.ca | JUNE 2022

http://www.duntrune.law http://www.londonincmagazine.ca

London Inc. June 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of London Inc. June 2022