Ben Ratelband is a partner at McCarthy Tétrault’s Labour & Employment Group in Toronto and is a member of the firm’s Environment Health & Safety Group.
Ben’s practice is focused exclusively on management-side labour, employment and occupational health and safety law. He has advised and represented employers in various sectors, such as mining, manufacturing, security, energy, transportation, health care, education, public service, and finance and investment. He has also represented employers in defence of occupational health and safety charges and appeals of regulatory orders, labour board proceedings, grievance arbitration, collective bargaining, employment litigation, injunctions, judicial review and civil appeals, employment standards, human rights, workplace safety and insurance proceedings and Coroner’s inquests.
Ben has spoken on various labour, employment and occupational health and safety topics for such organizations as the Law Society of Ontario, the Canadian Institute, Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto, the Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario, the World Association of Mining Lawyers, the Prospectors & Development Association of Canada (PDAC) and the Ontario Bar Association and has authored various labour and employment and occupational health and safety law articles. He also regularly provides training for clients’ managers and other staff to assist them in meeting their legal duties.
Prior to joining McCarthy’s, Ben worked in the field of management-side labour relations in private and public sector settings in both Ontario and the Yukon. He was legal counsel to the Management Board Secretariat of the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, where he represented the Crown as an employer in a variety of forums, including the Divisional Court and the Court of Appeal. Ben received his B.A. (Hons.) from York University, where he graduated cum laude in 1992, and he received his LLB from the University of Toronto in 1996.