Rights for Employees to Continue Working Rmotely after COVID: CBC News

Interview Summary

Public health restrictions continue to lift across the country. For many employees and employers, this means a return to the office and physical workplace. Do employees who wish to continue working from home have any right to do so? What can and should employers accommodate as the workforce once again changes?

A Vancouver employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP joined Gloria Macarenko on CBC Radio’s On the Coast to answer these questions and more.

Interview Notes

• Injury liabilities working at home: If someone is injured at home while performing work for their employer, they may be eligible for benefits under WorkSafeBC (WCB).
• Making employees return to the office: A company can have staff return to the workplace from remote work. Moody said “an employer has the full right to dictate where an employee works.”
• Company doesn’t need to justify return: There isn’t a legal requirement for an employer to explain why they want employees to come back to the workplace.
• Proof of vaccination for workers: Employees will not need to show proof of vaccination after the B.C. government drops drops the mandate across the province.
• Firing unvaccinated employees: Workers can be fired for failing to get their COVID-19 vaccinations, but they must receive severance pay.
• Letting parents work from home: An employer may have a legal obligation to let a parent with childcare obligations continue working from home, depending on the situation.

Learn more about employee rights when employers end remote work and recall staff in provinces like Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.