What comes to mind when I say the word ‘rights’? Is it the Charter? If it is, fair enough; it is the largest single repository of rights in Canada. It is not, arguably, the only one, however. When it comes to your day-to-day life, the right to be free from arbitrary search and seizure (s. 8), while good for piece of mind, is not all that pressing. If you’re like most people, though, you spend upwards of 40 hours a week working away from home and under someone else’s authority. In this context, do you know your rights?
Employment Standards
Perhaps the single most important document in this respect is the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (in Ontario, anyway – this will vary by province and/or industry). Of particular interest will be sections 5, 55, and 57. Section 5 ensures that you, as an employee, are guaranteed at least the minimum protections of the Act, but that you and your employer may contract for, and be bound to, higher standards if you so agree. This is significant because even if you sign an employment contract that allows for less than, say the minimum notice periods for termination, then it is the Act, and not the contract, that applies. Similarly, if your contract provides for more than the minimum notice period in the Act, then it is the contract that applies. Basically, whichever of the two most benefits the employee will apply.
Section 55 is interesting because it tells you that certain prescribed classes of employees are not entitled to notice of termination or pay in lieu of notice. To find out who exactly this is, however, you’ll have to check out Ontario Regulation 288/01, specifically section 2. Here you will see, for example, that an employee will not be eligible for notice of termination if they are:
“guilty of wilful misconduct, disobedience or wilful neglect of duty that is not trivial and has not been condoned by the employer.”
This is kind of a sneaky way for the government to make the Act seem very employee-centric while still leaving a fair amount of power in the hands of the employer.
Section 57 sets out the minimum notice periods that employer’s must honour when terminating an employee. Keep in mind that section 54 tells us that these only apply if you have been continuously employee for more than 3 months. After that, its roughly 1 week for every year you’ve worked for that employer. This tops out at 8 weeks, however, so even if you’ve been working for an employer for 10 years, you’ll only get 8 weeks (unless some other provisions apply, of course).
What Else You Need Yo Know
Labour & employment law is a complicated area: the Employment Standards Act alone weighs in at over 100 pages. This doesn’t even include the regulations and thousands of cases that help further define this complicated area. For example, what does ‘wilful misconduct’ even mean? Well, to figure that out you need to some some legal research: there is no simple answer. In this respect, if you are facing a labour or employment dispute, do yourself a favour and find a lawyer. Not just any lawyer though, one that specializes in this area. Labour & employment law, like criminal defence, is not a subject where there is a lot of room for a general practitioner to figure it out as s/he goes along.
