Geoff R. Ryans

About Geoff R. Ryans

Workplace safety sits at the centre of Geoff Ryans's practice. A Toronto partner at Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti, Geoff has defended employers against many prosecutions under occupational health and safety law, and the wider practice spans every part of labour and employment law. Clients include unionized and non-union organizations in both the public and private sectors, federally regulated ones among them.

Geoff came to Filion in 2006, was called to the Ontario bar a year later and has been a partner since 2013. Law studies were at Queen's University, with an arts degree from the University of Ottawa as well.

Day to day, the work takes Geoff to hearing rooms and the bargaining table alike. Construction industry clients regularly have Geoff in front of the Ontario Labour Relations Board, and the courtroom side also covers major arbitrations, wrongful dismissal claims and Human Rights Tribunal cases. When an employer heads into collective bargaining, it's often Geoff who speaks for it.

Geoff also writes for the people who manage federally regulated workplaces, as one of five co-authors of the Carswell guide Canada Labour Code: Quick Reference, now in its 2026 edition. The safety focus shows up in the press too: in 2018 Geoff explained to a safety publication that when a temp worker is critically injured or killed and the Ministry of Labour finds a breach of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the charge goes to the company where the work is done rather than the staffing agency.