Employment Law Show: Ontario – S11 E47

Episode Summary

Do employees have a right to refuse an increasing workload? Employment Lawyer Lior Samfiru, co-managing Partner and national practice leader at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, answers this question and more on the Employment Law Show.

LISTEN BELOW to Ontario’s premiere radio show about employment law and workplace rights featuring the province’s leading employment lawyers. You can hear the show live on Mondays to Thursdays at 640 Toronto and 980 CFPL in London at 6:30 p.m. ET, as the hosts take calls from listeners and provide vital answers to employees and employers.

Listen to the Episode

Show Notes

• Accepting a temporary layoff: Employers do not have the legal ability to place employees on a temporary layoff without their consent. Employees can choose to treat an imposed layoff as a termination of their employment and pursue their severance entitlements. It is important for employees to look closely at the terms of their employment contract or any documentation that they are provided with from their employer.
• Forced to take on new responsibilities: While employers are within their rights to request employees take on some new tasks or more work temporarily, it cannot become a permanent change. Significant changes to the terms of employment can lead to constructive dismissal. Employees do not have to accept the proposed major changes to their job.
• Terminated for cause due to breach in policy: It is very difficult for employers to terminate an employee for cause due to an error or isolated incident. Employers have to be able to prove that an employee has exhibited serious misconduct and that disciplinary action has been taken. Many employees that have been terminated for cause have likely been wrongfully dismissed.

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