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 that he could refuse to work on Sunday (as was his right), but that the employer had to reschedule him for another shift so that he would not suffer any weekly loss of hours and pay. The Ontario Labour Relations Board (“OLRB”) found that the company did not have to reschedule the employee. The OLRB’s decision meant that the employee could not use the right to refuse work as a means to create his preferred shift schedule with no loss of pay.

The facts

The employer was a grocery store operator. The employee was a … Continue reading “Grocery store employee bears cost of refusing to work on Sunday”