Canadian Business Environment: Business Law Reflective Case Assignment

This case study analyzes the 'Hall vs. Stewart' case, focusing on the liability of a corporate director in a workplace accident within the Canadian business environment. The assignment explores the legal principles of workers' compensation, corporate director responsibilities, and the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act. The case highlights the exceptions to the rule where employees cannot sue employers, particularly when employers have personal coverage. The court's ruling emphasizes that the director, although involved, did not have absolute immunity from prosecution, and the injured employees were entitled to damages. This case serves as a crucial reminder for directors to ensure adequate coverage for workplace incidents. The assignment includes an analysis of relevant legislation and a reflection on the employer's responsibility to provide a safe working environment and compensate injured employees.

Running head; CANADIAN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
BUSINESS LAW REFLECTIVE CASE ASSIGNMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note

1CANADIAN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Hall vs. Stewart [2019] ABCA 98
The underlying concept of compensation for workers through Canada is that employees
who faced injuries in the course of employment cannot sue the employer or others under tortious
liability if the employer or others are covered by the personal coverage. However, there are some
exceptions to this rule (Bittle & Snider, 2015).
The recent case of Hall vs. Stewart deals with the responsibility of a corporate director
concerning a personal injury suit arising out of a workplace accident. In this case, the director of
a real estate cum Construction Company, namely DWS Construction Ltd. has been sued for
negligence by numerous employees after getting injured due to a stairway collapse on a
construction development ("CanLII Connects", 2020).
According to Alberta Law, workers’ compensation does not extend to the directors of an
organization. Thus, they must buy personal coverage if they want to be free from a lawsuit and to
enjoy benefits. However, the Court of Appeal ruled that, while the director was directly involved,
he did not have the right of absolute immunity from prosecution. It has been argued by the court
that the director has no connection with this accident rather he just performs his duties thus a
personal suit is no valid. This view has been supported by the court because this rule of
immunity from the lawsuit has been incorporated by the Workers’ Compensation law ("CanLII
Connects", 2020).
If the other laws have been discussed it can be observed that as per the provisions of the
Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act, 2018 every employer must give a safe, secure and
healthy environment of working to its employees under this Act (Shortreed, 2017). According to

2CANADIAN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
this Act, if any employee injures in the workplace while performing his/her responsibilities, that
employee will be entitled to get damages under this Act.
The same view has been given by court which stated that the injured employees must get
damages for their loss and the director also could be held privately responsible if he was proven
guilty of negligence and accountable under the law for the accident. Thus, the matter was
decided by the Court on the merits ("CanLII Connects", 2020).
Therefore, I think that it is the responsibility of the employer to provide compensation to
its workers for their injuries. Most importantly this case worked like an alarm for the directors
and officers to assure that they are adequately covered under the omission coverage for
workplace harms.

3CANADIAN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
References
Bittle, S., & Snider, L. (2015). Law, regulation, and safety crime: exploring the boundaries of
criminalizing powerful corporate actors. Canadian Journal of Law & Society/La Revue
Canadienne Droit et Société, 30(3), 445-464.
CanLII Connects. (2020). Retrieved 26 March 2020, from
https://www.canliiconnects.org/en/cases/2019abca98
Shortreed, L. (2017). New Alberta workers: improving workplace health and safety for
temporary foreign workers and other new to Alberta workers.