About
Agostino Law
Giuseppe (Joe) Agostino
Bar admissions & education
L.L.B., Osgoode Hall Law School 2007
B.A. (Hons), York University 2004
Joe was called to the bar in 2008 and has practiced labour and employment law exclusively since then.
Joe began his career as in-house counsel advocating on behalf of one of the largest construction unions in North America and its employee members. Following that, Joe became in-house counsel for the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), one of the largest employers in the Province of Ontario, and the third largest public transportation organization in North America. Coinciding with his practice at TTC, Joe founded Agostino Law, where he effectively advocates on behalf of employers and employees in a variety of industries.
Joe appears before the Superior Court of Justice, the Divisional Court, boards of private arbitration and administrative tribunals, including the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal and the Ontario Labour Relations Board. Below you will find links to some of Joe’s most recent legal victories:
Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 113, Applicant v Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 5089, and Toronto Transit Commission, Responding Parties, Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) File No. 2168-20-JD dated April 15, 2024
In this jurisdiction dispute, the OLRB dismissed Local 113's claim, made on behalf of its members who hold the position of Transit Operator, to the work of operating Event Buses as part of the City of Toronto's Hostile Vehicle Mitigation Program. The OLRB affirmed the Toronto Transit Commission's decision to assign the work to its Transit Enforcement Officers, who are members of Local 5089, on the basis that the work of operating the Event Buses was integrally connected to the law enforcement work performed by them.
Arbitrator accepted the employer's argument that the language in the collective agreement did not include a guarantee of overtime work and dismissed the union's claim for unpaid overtime on behalf of its members.
Arbitrator upheld the employer's decision terminating the employment of an employee who threw bolts at his co-worker and rejected the union's claim that the employee's misconduct was caused by a disability.
Arbitrator upheld the employer's decision terminating the employment of an employee who participated in a benefit fraud scheme and rejected the union's positive defences of condonation and discriminatory discipline.
Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 113 v Toronto Transit Commission (Impassable Work Zone) 2019 CarswellOnt 14434
Arbitrator found the employer's assignment of the task of setting up a safety work zone on the subway track to non-union employees was integral to their work and a proper work assignment.
The Superior Court found there was a genuine issue for trial with respect to the Plaintiff's character of employment and dismissed the Plaintiff's request for summary judgement in her wrongful dismissal case.
