Aaron Rousseau
Experienced employment lawyer Aaron Rousseau has focus, creativity, and calmness in the face of adversity – talents he honed while mountain-climbing and practicing the martial art of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In the even less forgiving world of employment law, Aaron provides counsel and representation to employers and employees on employment contracts, non-competition and non-solicitation clauses, wrongful dismissal, constructive dismissal, workplace policies, progressive discipline, accommodation of disabilities, employment standards, workplace investigations, and human rights in the workplace.
Never one to back away from an argument, Aaron won both the National and the North American Debating Championships when he was in university. Aaron now makes use of his oratorical skills in the courtroom, and has appeared at every level of court in Ontario, from the Small Claims Court up to the Ontario Court of Appeal. He has also appeared before a number of administrative tribunals, including the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal and the Ontario Labour Relations Board. Aaron’s cases have been reported in the Canadian Cases on Employment Law, the Ontario Reports, and elsewhere.
A public court battle is often not in anyone’s interest, however, and Aaron is equally proud of the negotiated resolutions he frequently achieves for his clients. Negotiation resolutions are usually faster, cheaper, and more flexible than the courts. Precisely because Aaron’s opponents know that he is willing and able to go to court, he can often achieve a negotiated resolution for his clients.
Aaron has been quoted in The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star, and has appeared on the CBC to discuss workplace law. Aaron has also published numerous articles in the Dismissal and Employment Law Digest and the Canadian Occupational Safety Magazine. One of his most popular articles is “Overtime and the Salaried Employee: A Disaster Waiting to Happen”, a topic on which he also frequently presents.
Aaron holds a B.A. Honours (Political Science and Peace and Conflict Studies) from the University of Toronto, where he graduated with distinction, having focused on group-identity conflict. He earned his law degree at the University of Toronto in 2006, earning numerous awards, and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 2007.
Aaron’s recent cases include:
- Shlomo Conforti v. Investia Financial Services Inc. and Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc. 2011 CanLII 60897 (O.L.R.B.) - a widely cited case which helped establish that despite Bill 168 and the workplace harassment provisions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, employees who are fired for complaining of workplace harassment cannot bring a complaint to the Ontario Labour Relations Board.
- Oakley and Oakley v. Levinter & Levinter Professional Corporation 2011 ONSC 6326 (ON S.C.) - an important case about soliciting former clients where Aaron successfully defeated the employer’s attempt to bring the former clients into the lawsuit.
- Moreno v. Comfact 2009 CanLII 34981 (ON S.C.) - a case where Aaron secured a 12 month severance package for a client who had been offered just two weeks by his employer and proved that his client had been fired despite the employer’s insistence that he had resigned.
Aaron’s recent publications include:
- Overtime and the salaried employee in Ontario: a disaster waiting to happen
- Contractors may be employees entitled to reasonable notice
- Employer not always responsible for worker’s mental distress
- Overview of overtime in Canada
- Recent developments on legal treatment of drug-addicted employees
- Post-merger employment law issues
Aaron can be reached at aaron@whittenlublin.com.
