Employers managing remote workers have stumbled into the same legal traps over and over again for much of the past four years. The courts have noticed — and employees have capitalized.
It does not have to be that way.
With a handful of disciplined practices, employers can reverse the trend, reassert managerial control and stop writing settlement cheques to employees who have never set foot in the office.
Here is the roadmap:
The biggest employer blunder is treating remote work as a handshake deal. Courts treat it as a binding term.
Every employer should have written, signed remote-work agreements specifying:
Remote work is not guaranteed
The employer may alter or revoke remote status at its discretion with some specified amount of advance notice
Office attendance requirements may change based on business needs
Surveillance or productivity tools may be used (within reasonable limits)
The employee must maintain a safe and appropriate workspace
If you don’t include these provisions, a judge will assume the remote arrangement is permanent, and that any change is a constructive dismissal.
It is astonishing how many employers still ignore this.
Employers adopt monitoring software because they lack confidence in managing from a distance. But opaque and inaccurate tools are worse than none.
If you cannot explain:
how the software works,
what it...
‘Malicious intent’: Failed romantic relationship leads to forged documents, false allegations, bankruptcy An Alberta business owner has won $17,500 in a groundbreaking human rights case after her f...