right to refuse work

Occupational Health and Safety: Duty to report and protection against reprisal

February 20, 2018 Occasional Contributors Health and Safety, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Penalties and Fines

Employers should be particularly alert to the provisions of OHS Acts in considering actions taken by workers outside of the usual lines of reporting at the workplace where unsafe work conditions are alleged. The OHS Acts of each province in Atlantic Canada imbue workers with specific rights related to workplace safety.

duty to report, employment law, health and safety, Occupational Health and Safety Committee, right to refuse work, unsafe work, work refusal

Grocery store employee bears cost of refusing to work on Sunday

July 2, 2015 Employer Advisor, McCarthy Tétrault LLP Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, HR Policies and Procedures, HRMS, Human Resources, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll, Recruiting and Hiring, Union Relations, Wages and Compensation

An interesting decision was released in the retail sector which discusses a retail employee’s statutory right to refuse to work on a Sunday under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”). At issue was a new company schedule that would have forced an employee to work additional hours on a Sunday. The employee not only argued […]

employee suffered a reprisal under the ESA, employment law, employment standards act, general right to refuse work on Sunday, hours of work, Ontario Labour Relations Board, retail employee’s statutory right to refuse to work on a Sunday, retail sector, Right to refuse to work on Sunday, right to refuse work, Work schedule

Nortel, robo-calls and refusing unlawful employer instructions

February 29, 2012 Alan McEwen Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Health and Safety, Human Resources

Employers normally have the right to expect that instructions to employees will be faithfully carried out. But what happens when the employer asks that employees do something dodgy or potentially illegal? What would you do when faced with an employer request you felt might not be within the law?

employment law, Nortel, refusing employer instructions, reprisal, right to refuse work, Robo-calls, terminate for cause, unlawful employer requests, work refusal

Landmark decision gives insight into workplace harassment and employer reprisal

October 21, 2011 David Hyde Employee Relations, Health and Safety, Human Resources, Human Rights

The Ontario Labour Relations Board has provided what some believe to be the most significant legal interpretation yet of workplace harassment and employer reprisal in the context of the recently enacted Bill 168 amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA). The case, Conforti v. Investia Financial Services Inc., 2011, was decided on September 23, 2011.

Bill 168, compliance, discipline, employment law, harassing email, occupational health and safety act, OHSA, ontario, reprisal, right to refuse work, risk assessment, termination, termination for cause, termination for harassment complaint, vexatious comment or conduct, whistleblowing, workplace harassment, workplace harassment investigation, workplace violence

Refusing work if workplace violence is likely to endanger

January 19, 2010 Adam Gorley Health and Safety, Human Resources

What do you do when an employee tells you she’s refusing to work because she fears she’ll suffer from an act of violence at the workplace? You might ask: can the worker even do that? With workplace violence and harassment legislation and regulation spreading across Canada, you might just need to know.

Bill 168, discipline, occupational health and safety, Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act, privacy, right to refuse work, work refusal, workplace harassment, workplace policies, workplace violence