Employment lawyer on COVID-19 legal disputes and employee rights

As the pandemic continues and workplaces adjust to ongoing public health and safety measures, employers and employees have had some difficulties enforcing their rights. What can both employees and employers do in order to maintain safety at the workplace while also being practical?

Dan Balkaran, a Vancouver employment lawyer and Associate at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP spoke with the Journal of Commerce on removing emotion from important decision making for both employees and employers.

“Employers are in a tough position, they have to provide a safe working environment, but at the same time, employees have rights as well and even laying off employees can also come with some costly financial blow-back in Canada,” says Balkaran. “Employers could be facing hundreds of thousands – if not millions – in severance liability.”

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Balkaran goes on to explain that the pandemic has complicated many workplaces issues and often advice from an employment lawyer is necessary.

“Things that we thought were not legal a year ago, may be legal now. For an employee, there is a lot happening with the vaccine and imposing the vaccine, so talking to a lawyer is well worth the money,” says Balkaran.

Balkaran also comments on ongoing mandatory vaccination policies in workplaces stating, “There is rhetoric and there is the law. While politicians may announce different measures, but these measures need to go through a government process to emerge as edicts that must be followed.”

“The reality of COVID is that both the employer and the employee is best served by knowing their legal position when a dispute arises and then deciding what is really important,” Balkaran concludes.