174. Worker Solidarity and Employment Class Actions (with Joshua Mandryk)

The Law School Show

In this episode, Joshua Mandryk— labour lawyer and employment class action litigator at Goldblatt Partners LLP— speaks to host Ali Mesbahian about building solidarity with working people and providing access to justice. Who is allowed to bring forth a class action, and what criteria must be met? What area of employment law are class actions most common? What does “success” entail in class actions, and how frequent are they? What are the interests involved in an employment class action, and how does the lawyer attend to them, especially in the event of a conflict? Joshua also speaks of the need for legislative clarity around the classification of workers—particularly to clarify what is already the case: workers in the gig economy are employees and NOT independent contractors.