Rita De Fazio

Rita De Fazio practices labour and employment law, approaching each case with empathy and compassion and endeavoring to build a strong foundation of trust with clients.

Rita joined UPFH in 2023. She was drawn to labour law due to its inherent ties to social justice and continues to see the law as a key tool to effect meaningful social change.

In her previous experience at a union-side Toronto law firm specializing in construction labour, Rita dealt with matters including the acquisition and maintenance of bargaining rights, grievances, jurisdictional disputes, human rights complaints and judicial reviews. 

She was also a lawyer and supervisor of law students at IAVGO Community Legal Clinic, where she represented injured workers before the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) and Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT). While attending law school at the University of Toronto, Rita worked at Advocates for Injured Workers, where she represented workers before the WSIB and the WSIAT, and completed credit courses at Downtown Legal Services in the Employment and the Refugee & Immigration divisions. 

In addition to her Juris Doctor from U of T, Rita has a BA (Honours) from York University in Law and Society, where she graduated summa cum laude. 

Rita has been featured as a speaker on topics relating to workers’ compensation for the Ontario Bar Association, the Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers, and the University of Toronto. She is a member of the Ontario Bar Association and the Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers. 

Decisions of Interest

Morningstar v. WSIAT 2021 ONSC 5576

• Rita intervened on behalf of IAVGO Community Legal Clinic before the Divisional Court in Morningstar v. WSIAT, a notable case in which the court found that the worker was not statute barred by the WSIA from pursuing a claim for constructive dismissal against her employer.