Glossary
In Criminal Law
An undertaking is a piece of paper that an accused signs instead of being held for a bail hearing. Usually it will contain conditions you agree to comply with as part of your release from custody. If you don’t follow the conditions of your undertaking you can be charged with failing to comply.
In Criminal Law
After you’ve been charged with a criminal offence, a police officer may give you an “undertaking to an officer in charge”, along with a promise to appear. The undertaking to an officer in charge is also known as Form 11.1. It includes conditions similar to those required for bail. For example, you may be required to pledge up to $500 security before you are released.
In Employment and Work, Housing Law, Human Rights, Tribunals and Courts
Ontario’s Human Rights Code says that employers and landlords must do what they can to remove barriers that cause people to be treated differently because of personal differences that are listed in the Human Rights Code. The legal word for this is accommodation. Examples of personal differences include a person’s ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability.
But an employer or landlord might not have to do something if they can prove that doing it will cause them undue hardship. For example, it would be undue hardship:
- if the only solution available would cost the employer or landlord too much
- if the only solution would cause a serious risk to the health or safety to other workers or tenants
In Family Law
Undue hardship means a payor parent doesn’t have enough money to pay the child support they have to pay according to the Child Support Guidelines.
It can also mean that the parent receiving child support is finding it very hard to support the child with the amount they get according to the Child Support Guidelines.
Undue hardship is difficult to prove. If a parent can prove undue hardship, the court can order an amount that is more or less than what the payor would have usually paid according to the Child Support Guidelines.
In Criminal Law
Temporary absences are a type of release you might get if you’re serving a sentence in jail. Temporary absences may be escorted or unescorted. You might be allowed to have a temporary absence for:
- work on a community service project
- contact with family
- personal development
- medical reasons
In Debt and Consumer Rights, Tribunals and Courts
Unfair business practices are any dishonest way a company gets your business. This includes a company:
- making false or misleading promises to you
- overcharging you for goods
- taking advantage of your disability, languages you don’t understand, or challenges you have with reading
- pressuring you to buy their goods or services
In Employment and Work, Human Rights, Tribunals and Courts
A union is an organized group of workers that bargains with an employer to set conditions of employment, such as wages, hours of work, and overtime pay. Sometimes unions are called labour unions or trade unions.
In Criminal Law
It is a criminal offence to not surrender into custody when you’re required to. For example, if you’re serving an intermittent sentence and you do not go back to jail on time, a warrant can be issued for your arrest, charging you with unlawfully being at large.
An unsecured creditor is a person or business you owe money to that does not have collateral. This means that if you don’t pay your debt, this creditor cannot automatically take any of your assets to pay for what you owe. Most credit card companies are unsecured creditors. But an unsecured creditor may be able to take your assets eventually, if they get a court judgment against you.
In Debt and Consumer Rights, Income Assistance, Other benefits
An unsecured debt is money you owe a person or business that is not protected by collateral. This means that your creditor cannot take any of your assets if you don’t pay what you owe, unless they take you to court and get a judgment against you. Most credit cards are unsecured debts.
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