Employees Push Back on Returning to the Office: Employment Lawyer Mackenzie Irwin with CBC

Interview Summary

More companies are beginning to ask staff to return to the office most of the time, or fully.

For Canadians who’ve enjoyed the flexibility of a remote or hybrid work model, the renewed return-to-office push has sparked significant backlash. Varying surveys and polls, including new data from the Angus Reid Institute, suggest that a portion of employees have resigned from their positions in protest.

Mackenzie Irwin, an Ontario employment lawyer and Senior Associate at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, spoke with CBC News to discuss options available to employees who wish to continue their hybrid or remote work arrangements.

Interview Notes

• Employment contracts: Irwin noted that employees should carefully review the terms of their contracts to determine their rights. “If hybrid or remote work permissions are written into a contract, then that’s set in stone,” said Irwin.
• Changes made to your job: Irwin went on to explain that a major change imposed by an employer does not have to be accepted by employees. “A change in the remote work policy would count as a constructive dismissal,” said Irwin. “[It] would require the employer to pay severance.”
• Implied term of employment: “If [a return to work isn’t] written into the contract, it’s more complicated,” Irwin explained.  “The longer employees have been working from home with no mention of coming back, the more embedded that policy becomes in the worker’s agreement.”
• Impact of the pandemic: Irwin cautioned employers who have permitted pandemic work policies to continue without communicating with their staff. “Employers who allowed people to work from home during COVID-19 and haven’t recalled them in the 5 years since might have ‘missed the boat’ on being able to mandate their workers back to the office,” Irwin said.

Related Resources

For further insights and discussions related to employee rights, explore the following resources:

• “Arbitrary Decisions”: Companies Criticized for Increasing In-Office Work
• Return-to-Office Mandates a “Power Grab”, Study Claims