Legal Information/ Legal Briefs
Legal Briefs
Until 2010, these legal briefs provide examples of judgments pertaining to everyday situations. Beginning in 2012, they deal with various topics of general interest, such as rental issues, family law, human rights, civil liability, insurance, dealings between spouses and social aid. They are intended to inform and to prevent undesirable situations.
Legal Briefs 2019
November - December
Preventive Detention
The judge refused to release you after you appeared in court while being held in custody for an offence and you wonder whether the time you spent in custody was properly credited as part of your sentence?
more
July - August
What is a parenting and mediation information session?
If you are involved in a family law case that will be heard in Superior Court, your lawyer has most likely informed you of your obligation to participate in a parenting and mediation information session.
Since January 1, 2016, former spouses have the legal obligation to attend a parenting
more
May - June
Direct deposit mistakenly made by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)
The use of direct deposits for government benefits has become standard practice, but it may lead to unpleasant consequences for those who do not pay close attention to the deposits they receive.
Indeed, the increasing types of deposits (parental benefits, employment insurance benefits,
more
April 2019
Labor standards, the 2018-2019 reform
In June 2018 and, more recently, January 2019, the Act respecting labour standards, which governs and protects certain Québec workers who are not covered by a collective agreement, was amended and enhanced. It is important to note, however, that certain categories of persons, including self-employed workers, senior executives and members of the Canadian Armed Forces, are excluded.
It should also be noted that certain provisions of the Act may apply to part-time workers as well as full-time workers.
The following are the principal changes:
1. Vacation
As of January 1, 2019, employees who have three or more years of service at the end of a reference year will be entitled to three (3) consecutive weeks of vacation. Their vacation pay will be equal to 6% of the salary earned during the reference year. This period usually runs from May 1 of the preceding year to April 30 of the current year.
2. Work-life balance
- Employees with three (3) months of uninterrupted service will be entitled to a maximum of two (2) paid days of leave, during a given year, to care for a relative or a person for whom they act as caregiver.
- The notion of “relative” used for determining the right to family or parental leaves has been expanded.
- Employees may be absent for up to sixteen (16) weeks over a period of twelve (12) months to care for a relative or for a person for whom they act as caregiver, and up to thirty-six (36) weeks if the relative or person is a minor child. The relative or person must be suffering from a serious illness or serious accident.
Employees no longer need to have worked for their employer for sixty (60) consecutive days in order to be entitled to two (2) paid days of leave out of the five (5) days of leave to which they are entitled upon the birth or adoption of their child or upon a termination of pregnancy in or after the 20th week of pregnancy.
3. Psychological and sexual harassment
- The Act specifies that gestures of a sexual nature can be considered vexatious behaviour that is included in the definition of psychological harassment.
- Employees have a period of two years after the last incidence of psychological harassment within which to file a complaint with the CNESST. This deadline used to be 90 days.
- Employers will have the obligation to adopt and make available to their employees a psychological harassment prevention and complaint processing policy. This policy must include a section on harassment that manifests itself in the form of verbal comments, actions or gestures of a sexual nature.
Consult the website of the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail to make sure your rights are being respected and, if you have any doubts, don’t hesitate to contact a legal aid lawyer at the legal aid office nearest you.
To find the contact information for your legal aid office, please visit our website at www.csj.qc.ca.
Legal brief *
April 2019
2019
Number
04
Text prepared by Me Marie-Ève Bouchard
* The information set out in this document is not a legal interpretation.
The masculine is used to designate persons solely in order to simplify the text.
March
My child wants to live with me: ca he choose?
You and the father or mother of your child are separated and you cannot agree on how much time he will spend with each of you.
The courts issue many judgments dealing with this issue, and each decision must be made in the interests of the child and while respecting his rights.
On this
more
February
The right to a lawyer
The presumption of innocence: It is a fundamental principle of the Canadian justice system pursuant to which an accused is presumed innocent until proof to the contrary, that is, until the person admits their guilt or, at trial, the prosecution shows their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Fro
more