Emergency leave regulation ‘cannot override common law rights unless the statute clearly permits it’: lawyer
"Employers cannot impose temporary layoffs unless the employee has explicitly agreed to that possibility in the employment contract - just simply notifying an employee that they are laid off, even temporarily, doesn’t constitute consent and may result in a successful constructive dismissal claim under common law.”
So says employment lawyer Faraz Kourangi of Williams HR Law in the Greater Toronto Area, after an Ontario court found that an employer didn’t have the contractual right to temporarily lay off a worker during the pandemic.
Grenville Management is a Markham, Ont.-based company that sells, leases, and services office printers, scanners, and photocopiers. Its predecessor company hired the worker in 2006 to be a service tech and he later became an information technology (IT) specialist.
In 2014, the worker signed an employment agreement for a one-time signing bonus of $250. The new employment agreement included a provision that stated, “It is agreed that the company reserves the right to ask you… to accept a temporary layoff, during which time you may be eligible for Employment Insurance in accordance with the relevant statutes.”
On March 5, 2021, Grenville informed the worker that COVID-19 was impacting its business and it needed to temporarily reduce staff. The layoff notice stated that “we are therefore providing you notice of temporary...
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