LAWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Hours of Work

Dec 30: Comments closed on a government proposal to remove “in-house brewery licensees” from the list of operations and businesses that are exempt from the Days of Rest Act banning certain business activities on Sundays. The regulation takes effect on April 1, 2026.

Action Point: Look up the maximum work hours and rest requirements in each part of Canada.

New Laws

Dec 16: The Governments of Canada and New Brunswick finalized a “One Project, One Review” cooperation agreement under which major projects will undergo joint federal-provincial environmental assessment in a single process rather than having to seek separate environmental approvals from each government.

New Laws

Jan 20: The Collège Communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick will receive $5.8 million to support the next phase of a renewal project on its Bathurst campus. CCNB plans to close its building on Youghall Drive and replace it with a new one on du Collège Street while modernizing the existing facilities. The $5.8 million is in addition to $10.85 million committed for the first and second phases of the project.

Discrimination

Jan 16: New Brunswick’s new government plan to address systemic racism in the province calls for establishing an anti-racism office within the department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour. New Brunswick will become the fifth Canadian jurisdiction to establish such an office.

Action Point: Beware of certain kinds of seemingly legitimate employment practices that may have the effect of inadvertently perpetuating racial discrimination and increasing your liability risks.

Workers’ Compensation

Feb 28: February 28 is the deadline for New Brunswick employers to submit their annual payroll form (Form 100) to WorkSafeNB to avoid late filings that may result in interest, late fees and penalties. Employers don’t have to create a MyServices account to Fast File their Form 100.

Action Point: Look up the 2026 workers’ compensation premium rates in each part of Canada.

Workers’ Compensation

Feb 4: February 4 is the deadline to comment on proposed revisions to clarify and simplify WorkSafeNB’s policy and procedures for determining whether illnesses are work-related for purposes of workers’ comp coverage. The changes include a new appendix listing all WorkSafeNB-recognized occupational diseases, including 2 that were recently added.

CASES

Workplace Harassment: Anti-Semitic Remarks Are Grounds to Suspend but Not Terminate

A delivery driver from Massachusetts knew and got along with a former Israeli, half-Jewish shipper that he regularly encountered while making pickups at a New Brunswick paper mill. But a conversation that began about the Canadian election devolved into a nasty confrontation over Trump and politics in which the driver allegedly compared Zionism to Nazism, claimed that the Jews killed Jesus and that Israel had advance knowledge of 9/11, before telling the shipper to “f*** off” and refusing to load his truck. Without any audio or video or witnesses, the shipper’s accusations against the driver became a purely he-said/he-said proposition. After hearing both sides, the arbitrator found the driver’s story more credible. Combined with the driver’s sincere remorse and holes in the accusations, the arbitrator ruled that the company had just cause to discipline but not fire the driver for harassment and violating its respectful workplace policy and knocked the penalty down to a 4-month suspension with full reinstatement upon the driver’s completion of sensitivity training [Unifor, Local 523N v Lake Utopia Paper, a Division of J.D. Irving, Limited, 2025 CanLII 136812 (NB LA), December 19, 2025].

Action Point: This case is a good illustration of the harassment, violence, and other chaos that may arise when employees discuss politics in the workplace. Find out more about the laws governing free speech and political speech in the workplace and how to impose fair restrictions without violating employees’ rights.