• First Reference
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • 24th Annual Ontario Employment Law Conference 📣
  • Blog Signup 📨

First Reference Talks

Discussions on Human Resources, Employment Law, Payroll and Internal Controls

  • Home
  • About
  • Archives
  • Resources
You are here: Home / Human Rights / Employees who hate working…a human rights issue?

By Christina Catenacci, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD | 3 Minutes Read May 28, 2010

Employees who hate working…a human rights issue?

work-stressAn employee who hates working and being managed by his or her supervisor – Can this become a human rights issue in the workplace? Well it depends; but I recently learned at a conference that I attended that an employee who hates working and being managed can actually raise a human rights issue in the workplace.

How can this be possible you say?

Employees have to work and listen to their managers’ instructions – that is why they earn employment income. Employers have the right to manage within their workplace.

A human rights issue may arise when an employee is so discontent with working and being given instructions that the employee develops a “disability” under human rights legislation in the form of “stress”, “blood pressure issues”, or a similar ailment, and gets a doctor’s note confirming that the workplace is making the employee ill.

For instance, an employee may obtain a doctor’s note and request a leave of absence due to “stress” from working. There could even be a situation where management and the employee have a dispute, the employee makes demands, management refuses to meet all the demands, the employee becomes ill and obtains a doctor’s note confirming the illness, and the employee insists on, and/ or threatens a constructive dismissal claim against the employer.

Under these circumstances, most employers would want to immediately terminate that employee.

However, I learned at the conference that it may not be in the employer’s best interests to act hastily and terminate the employee. Just because the employee is trying to use illness in order to justify his or her autonomy, a “disability” may be present, and the employer is recommended to follow a disability management process by:

  • Obtaining medical evidence in order to understand the nature of the employee’s disability and the leave requested;
  • Engaging in discussions with the employee in order to learn of his or her situation, accommodation needs, and options;
  • Requesting any additional medical information and opinion necessary in order to understand the employee’s limitations to perform work to properly accommodate; and
  • Working with the employee (and union if applicable) to facilitate an early return from a disability leave of absence to the previous job, or previous job with modifications, or a more appropriate job, or last resort – termination with a package (seek legal advice before doing this).

Whatever happens, employers are not recommended to say they refuse to accommodate the employee. The ideal situation is for an employer to offer the employee options without giving up management rights.

Communication, transparency, and effective disability management goes a long way in achieving a solution to this type of issue. For the confrontational employee who refuses to be managed – be proactive, patient, objective and apply your progressive discipline policy.

In a recent newsletter from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, I read about a new free resource The Workplace Mental Health Promotion: A How-To Guide – that provides both employees and employers with the tools and resources they need to create a healthy workplace. You should take a look.

I am sure it could help your company when next you encounter this type of situation where a human rights issue arose from a similar situation.

Christina Catenacci
First Reference Human Resources and Compliance Editor

  • About
  • Latest Posts
Follow me
Christina Catenacci, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD
Christina Catenacci, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD, is a member of the Law Society of Ontario. Christina worked as an editor with First Reference between 2005 and 2015 working on publications including The Human Resources Advisor (Ontario, Western and Atlantic editions), HRinfodesk, and First Reference Talks blog discussing topics in Canadian Labour and Employment Law. She continues to contribute to First Reference Talks as a regular guest blogger, where she writes on privacy and surveillance topics. Christina has also appeared in the Montreal AI Ethics Institute's AI Brief, International Association of Privacy Professionals’ Privacy Advisor, Tech Policy Press, and Slaw - Canada's online legal magazine.
Follow me
Latest posts by Christina Catenacci, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD (see all)
  • Social media in the workplace: Addressing cybersecurity risks - May 26, 2023
  • ChatGPT and privacy complaints: investigations launched - April 21, 2023
  • Home Depot disclosed personal information without valid consent - March 24, 2023

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window)

Article by Christina Catenacci, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD / Human Rights / accommodation, confrontational employee, Disability, disability leave, disability management, employee leave of absence, employment law, hate working, Human Resources, human rights, human rights code, leave of absences, management rights, progressive discipline, termination, workplace behavioral problems, workplace stress

Get the Latest Posts in your Inbox for Free!

Electronic monitoring

About Christina Catenacci, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD

Christina Catenacci, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD, is a member of the Law Society of Ontario. Christina worked as an editor with First Reference between 2005 and 2015 working on publications including The Human Resources Advisor (Ontario, Western and Atlantic editions), HRinfodesk, and First Reference Talks blog discussing topics in Canadian Labour and Employment Law. She continues to contribute to First Reference Talks as a regular guest blogger, where she writes on privacy and surveillance topics. Christina has also appeared in the Montreal AI Ethics Institute's AI Brief, International Association of Privacy Professionals’ Privacy Advisor, Tech Policy Press, and Slaw - Canada's online legal magazine.

Footer

About us

Established in 1995, First Reference is the leading publisher of up to date, practical and authoritative HR compliance and policy databases that are essential to ensure organizations meet their due diligence and duty of care requirements.

First Reference Talks

  • Home
  • About
  • Archives
  • Resources

Main Menu

  • About First Reference
  • Resources
  • Contact us
  • 1 800 750 8175

Stay Connected

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

We welcome your comments on our blog articles. However, we do not respond to specific legal questions in this space.
We do not provide any form of legal advice or legal opinion. Please consult a lawyer in your jurisdiction or try one of our products.


Copyright © 2009 - 2023 · First Reference Inc. · All Rights Reserved
Legal and Copyright Notices · Publisher's Disclaimer · Privacy Policy · Accessibility Policy