Health Law

Health law covers many different issues ranging from the regulation, discipline and liability of health care professionals to the duty to accommodate persons with disabilities, in relation to their employer, and regulatory College. Health care professionals may face legal proceedings in a variety of different contexts that all relate to the same occurrence in the workplace. We provide proactive advice and defence to health care professionals.

Phil Abbink and Danielle Bisnar are the Partners leading Cavalluzzo’s Health Law, Human Rights and Pay Equity Practice Groups. In addition to the years of experience they all have in working with ONA, they each bring unique strengths and experience to providing strategic advice to and litigating on behalf of trade unions and health professionals in a wide range of contexts. Our team works very closely with the civil litigation group who acts on behalf of unions and workers, including in injunctions and class actions, as well as the pensions and benefits group that have years of experience advising unions, plan administrators, OMERS and the Financial Services Regulatory Authority. 

Our lawyers have years of experience litigating on behalf of trade unions and health professionals in a wide range of contexts. Our services include:

• defence of medical malpractice lawsuits;
• representation of professionals in all proceedings under the Regulated Health Professions Act;
• advice about professional and legal obligations for health care professionals;
• HRTO Applications;
• pay equity advice and representation for groups of health care workers;
• judicial review and appellate representation;
• employment contracts;
• civil claims for wrongful dismissal;
• advice to witnesses subpoenaed to testify; and
• advise to professionals served with summons or subpoenas.

Recent Notable Representations include:

• Ontario Nurses Association and Service International Employees Union v. Participating Nursing Homes and Ontario, 2021 CanLII ONCA 148: under the Pay Equity Act, maintenance of a proxy comparison pay equity plans requires comparison with the external comparator set by regulation and based upon the male comparator.
• Ontario Nurses’ Association v. Corporation of the County of Essex (Sun Parlour Home for Senior Citizens), 2020 CanLII 93596 (ON LA): limited the application of a regulation which displaced collective agreement provisions, and permitted redeployment of staff, and other measures, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Schuyler Farms Limited v. Dr. Nesathurai, 2020 ONSC 4711: an appeal by the Medical Officer of Health of Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit to restore an order under the Health Protection and Promotion Act to protect the health of migrant farmworkers in the midst of COVID-19.
• Participating Nursing Homes v. Ontario Nurses' Association, 2020 CanLII 32055 (ON LA): in relation to over 200 homes represented by ONA, Cavalluzzo’s team obtained an order and award requiring that various measures designed to protect the health and safety of nurses, and reduce the spread of COVID-19, in those homes.
• Ontario Nurses Association v. Eatonville/Henley Place, 2020 ONSC 2467 (CanLII): Cavalluzzo’s team obtained an injunction against four long-term care homes, requiring them to comply with public health Directives, the Collective agreement, and the Occupational Health and Safety Act, by providing nurses with access to N95 respirators, pending the completion of arbitration proceedings.
• Long-Term Care Home Public Inquiry, which was established in August 2017 to inquire into the events and circumstances surrounding the death of eight nursing home residents and injury to several others. The Firm represents the Ontario Nurses' Association.
• St. Michael's Hospital v Ontario Nurses' Association, a grievance arbitration considering a challenge to Toronto-area hospitals' "Vaccinate or Mask" policy. Arbitrator Kaplan agreed with ONA that the policy was not supported by sufficient scientific evidence, and that the "'ask' that [health care workers] wear a mask for their entire shift for possibly months on end when entirely free of symptoms is completely unreasonable and is contrary to the collective agreement".