LABRST 3C03 Study Guide - Winter 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - New Zealand Labour Party, Canada, The Employer
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
LABRST 3C03
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Early Legal Regime Pt. 1
- Limits & Tendencies of Law
- Most laws relevant to labour are old and are based on foundations of old legal traditions
- These traditions date back to English/British Common Law (for Canada)
- Those common law practices were imported as a whole into Canada
- In Quebec, they adopted French laws
- Common Law
- Canadian lawmakers were conservative, wanted to avoid interference with business,
employers, the market etc.
- When factories arise, the laws regulating them are limited
- Most of the laws that existed were not friendly to unions or workers and were a source of
frustration for early workers organizations
- Early unions viewed these laws as hostile
- Laws that were common were Public Order and Property Rights
- Common law often offers precedence and many concepts with employers and lawyers
draw on in disputes
- Common law is not law passed by legislature
- Hierarchy of Laws:
- Constitution (Charter of Rights)
- Statutes (passed by legislation) - overrides common law
- Common law: a large set (group) of precedence that date far back (15th century England),
they are rulings that have been made in previous courts which determine how present day
courts will handle situations. They are largely based on customs and how a court would
customarily deal with a case and these become clear over time. This can be messy
because no two cases are the same.
- Master & Servant Act
- A law that has been adapted into nearly all of Britain's colonies
- The main law governing one worker and one employer
- The law that establishes that the working relationship is bound by a contract, the contract is
absolutely binding
- If that contract is broken, a civil suit is launched
- There was a basic unfairness to the employer, the worker was able to sue the employer if
the contract was broken and the worker is easily able to collect for damages
- Workers do not have the financial resources that employers do, so an employers lawsuit
against a worker may never be paid
- To even things out, quitting a job was criminalized (fines, prison, criminal record etc.)
- In the 1970s many provinces began to repeal the provisions and quitting would no longer
result in a criminal record
- There are assumptions within the Master & Servant act: the Master has implied power
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- Mechanic’s Lien Act
- The constitution makes the provision of labour a provincial legislative matter
- The issue this act is trying to address is bankruptcy, how would workers get their pay if an
employer folds?
- The market was uncertain and many employers went bankrupt and workers were never
paid
- One of the largest areas with this problem was construction
- The labour movement believed this to be their biggest concern as it was a basic
requirement for workers to pay
- When a company goes bankrupt, the creditors are lined up to get paid. The Mechanic’s
Lien Act says that in that line of creditors, workers will be first.
- However, there is a limit of $50, so you need to be owed over $50 to get paid
- Unions had to continue to lobby to move this process back and forth
- Many employers would ensure they went bankrupt without any assets, so no one would get
paid
- Essentially, workers became first in line to receive nothing
- Married Women’s Wages
- When young women were in their early twenties, they were encouraged to work but as they
approached their mid-twenties they were expected to get married and stop working
- The wages of a married woman is the property of her husband, there were clear limits on
how much property & when women could own property and this included wages
- Many employers would hold onto wages until a husband could collect it
- Unmarried young women’s wages were considered their fathers
- Doubt began to arise with this in the 1870s-80s, where cases in which married women
were being neglected by their husbands (men who drank their wives income, children
being neglected) and these cases gained attention
- Politicians wanted to get involved and protect women, they were also concerned with
protecting the idea that men owned all the property and they were worried about women
becoming too independent
- Married Women’s Property Act 1872
- This gives women control of their wages if they can prove that their husband has not been
responsible or neglectful
- Proving issues such as drinking, children not receiving basic needs, abandonment
- Judges often only gave women temporary control of wages and set a high standard and
were sympathetic to men
- Factory Acts
- The issue is safety and workers compensation
- 1884 and 1886: the first attempts to legislate health and safety in Ontario (this is also the
peak of the Knights of Labour and they offered the Factory Acts)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
