Ottawa employment lawyer on 640 Toronto talks right to disconnect

Interview Summary

Employers in Ontario in accordance with new legislation will have to implement a right to disconnect policy in the workplace. What will this mean in practical terms for employees across the province?

An Ottawa employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP joined Kelly Cutrara on Radio 640 Toronto to discuss employee rights and employer obligations in regards to the disconnect policy.

Interview Notes

• Right to disconnect policy legislation: Right to disconnect legislation has been enacted in order to protect employees from reprisal or negative treatment for disconnecting from the workplace after work hours by their employer. This law is provincial and so does not include federal employees.
• Different business sectors and rights to disconnect from the workplace: Depending on the workplace and employees are in different scenarios. in some workplaces employees are contractually on-call past regular work hours or there are other overtime expectations.
• Emergency communications by the employer after work hours: The legislation does include provisions in which an employer is able to reach an employee after hours due to an emergency. An emergency is not specifically outlined and is left up to interpretation. Employees are also able to negotiate the terms of employment so that communications after hours are already considered ahead of time.
• Concerns of employers in regards to the right to disconnect policies: Employers have to ensure that they are not breaching the terms of this legislation in daily practices. Employers largely have expected employees to work longer hours during the pandemic as many employees have been working from home.
• Employer obligations during an election: Employees have the right to take up to 3 consecutive hours off work to vote in the Ontario provincial election. Employers must obligate this requirement and cannot penalize employees.
• Tesla requests employees to return to the office: Many employers have decided at this point in the pandemic to request employees return to the office. Employees who previously worked at the office before COVID-19 must return to the office if asked by their employer. A refusal by employees is considered to be a resignation.