Returning to the workplace full-time: Toronto employment lawyer with CTV News

According to Statistics Canada, the shift to remote work arrangements was common at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, many workplaces have adopted a hybrid work model or returned full-time to the workplace.

However, not all employees have necessarily embraced a return to normalcy. What options do employees hoping for a more flexible work model have?

Jon Pinkus, an Ontario employment lawyer and Partner at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, spoke with CTV News on the complicated situation and how employees can pursue their rights.

“Whenever we’re talking about the rights of employees, it’s a question really of contract, right? Sometimes we’re talking about a written contract. Sometimes we’re talking about implied rights of contract,” Pinkus said.

“And this has been, in many cases, uncharted waters, right? Because we’ve never had a situation where everyone, all of a sudden, became remote.”

He went on to discuss the importance of the terms of employment.

“Generally, the way it’s always worked is that if someone is hired as a remote worker, and has been working remotely for a number of years, that’s become a term of your employment.”

The difficulty for many employers and employees has now become proceeding with work arrangements after working remotely for the past few years.

“An employee who is being asked now to go back to the office after having worked remotely for several years should be consulting with a lawyer,” Pinkus said.

“The time to set parameters was in 2020 and 2021, where it could be conveyed to those employees that look, we may be continuing this into 2023, but this is ultimately a temporary arrangement, and we expect we’re going to bring you back in as soon as circumstances allow.”

He went on to state that employers are still able to terminate employees who refuse to return to the office. However, employees would likely be owed severance pay.

“I think the only solution available with respect to employees who are not agreeable to going back into the office is to give them advance notice,” Pinkus said.

“And potentially significant advance notice of that change.”

Ultimately, Pinkus noted that every situation will be different and context matters.

“Anyone who’s thinking of refusing to return back to work shouldn’t do so before they speak with a lawyer to understand what their rights are.”