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Here is some information to read and consider:
Return to The Office or Permanent Work-From-Home? Whatever an Employer Chooses, Lawsuits Will Abound
The short answer to your question is that yes you can make a return to the office department specific and required, so long as you accommodate legitimate physical, medical, and family status obligations (having kids at home or in school is NOT a legitimate family status obligation), and give reasonable notice. If an employee refuses, for any non-accommodatable reason, they will have frustrated their contract and no longer be an employee. You are not required to keep your office telecommuting, you may want to because you may lose high performing employees that want that type of employment, but you are not beholden to a work arrangement.
However, you may want to seriously evaluate your reasons for making this decision. You may have behaviour problems that will NOT be solved by bringing employees back to an office, where research shows that productivity and costs are lower and higher respectively. There is NO evidence that employees in an office are more productive. There IS evidence that well managed employees that are aligned with company goals and managed to the right metrics are effective, no matter where they work. (I am personally not an advocate for either work arrangement. I think there are benefits to in person collaborative work and that it may be difficult for some to bridge the technology knowledge necessary to make remote work collaborative; but good people do good work wherever they are. The same can be said for bad people; and it is very easy for us to see location as the cause of bad behaviour, instead of what is probably a deeper issue to resolve.)
The 50 listed are recommended but not required by law. Effectively there are only 5 or 6 absolutely required by law, but we may recommend more for you given your industry. Could you please email us directly at rickt@bongarde.com and glennd@bongarde.com to share a little more about your company and Industry, the type of employees, etc.
Kaylee,
This is not a service that we offer because of liability, we can inform you what the rules are and refer you to some trusted Payroll partners if you would like. If so, please email me directly at rickt@bongarde.com.
in reply to: Attending Physician Statement #91968[Date]
[Address]
Re: [Employee’s Full Name]
Dear Dr. [Name of Physician] or To: [Health Care Practitioner],
The [Department / Agency / Organization] is committed to supporting employees to maintain their health, and to recover from illness or injury when it occurs, and are respectful of the principles articulated in Canadian Medical Association policies on the physician’s role in supporting ill or injured employees. We strive to enable employees to remain-at-work, by accommodating their needs, or to return-to-work as soon as it is medically appropriate in order to facilitate their recovery and maintain their connection to the workplace.
Our employee, [Mr./Ms./Mrs. Last name] has reported that due to [his / her] illness or injury, [he / she] is limited in [his / her] ability to perform the normal range of activities related to [his / her] work.
Therefore, I am writing to you as their [manager / supervisor] to request that you complete the enclosed Functional Abilities Form. The [Department / Agency / Organization] will reimburse the employee for professional fees associated with the completion of this form, which do not exceed those suggested by the provincial / territorial medical association for this type of service.
This form provides information on the physical and non-physical capacities [Mr. / Ms ./ Mrs. Last name] requires to effectively perform the duties of [his / her] job as well as the working conditions and any particular risks or stressors of the job.
We request that you complete the grey shaded areas with a view to providing as much information as necessary to specify [Mr./Ms./Mrs. Last name] functional limitations and restrictions. This information will enable us, in collaboration with [Mr./Ms./Mrs. Last name], to arrange a reasonable accommodation (e.g. modified/alternate duties and/or work schedule, gradual return to work, adjustments to equipment), if applicable, and ensure a healthy, safe and supportive work environment.
Please do not include any diagnostic or treatment information (including medication). If you require additional information in order to complete the form (e.g. specialist referral(s), diagnostic tests, laboratory analysis, etc.), please complete the form to the best of your ability and advise when this additional information may be available.
The information provided by you in the FAF will only be used to confirm [Mr. / Ms. / Mrs. Last name]’s ability to [remain-at-work / return-to-work] and arrange a workplace accommodation, as necessary.
Thank you for working with us to support [Mr./ Ms. / Mrs. Last name] in [his/her] recovery and to safely [remain-at-work / return-to-work].
Sincerely,
[Manager / Supervisor’s signature]
Manager / Supervisor‘s Name
Title
Address
Telephone Number
Enclosures: Functional Abilities Form
Employee Informed Consent Form
cc. to EMPLOYEE
Unless the employer has a policy giving extended leave or that leave is otherwise protected, then the employee is on leave without approval and awol.
Unless the employer has a policy giving extended leave or that leave is otherwise protected, then the employee is on leave without approval and awol.
in reply to: On-Call Treatment and Regulations in provinces #91965Here is a model policy for you to use – https://hrinsider.ca/model-policy-call-in-pay-bc-version/ and https://hrinsider.ca/call-in-reporting-pay-policy/
The employee will be put on a medical leave of absence. If the sickness amounts to a disability, the employee will have protections under the Human Rights Code. If the employer has benefits that address sickness, such as short or long term disability coverage, the employee would be entitled to those.
The employee will be put on a medical leave of absence. If the sickness amounts to a disability, the employee will have protections under the Human Rights Code. If the employer has benefits that address sickness, such as short or long term disability coverage, the employee would be entitled to those.
in reply to: Applications #91962Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have to post the pay as part of pay transparency rulings. BC’s Pay Transparency Act took effect in 2023 and by 2026, all employers with 50+ employees or more will be required to post pay transparency reports. In late 2023, Ontario proposed new pay transparency legislation.
Job ads and postings should not contain statements, qualifications or references that relate either directly or indirectly to race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, record of offences, age, marital status, family status or disability.
Quebec and the federal jurisdiction both have official languages legislation. In Quebec, employers that publish a position (as part of recruitment, hiring, transfer or promotion) in a language other than French must publish the position simultaneously in French. The French publication must use the same means of transmission and reach a target audience of proportionally comparable size.
in reply to: Vacation Policy – Use it or Lose it #91961No, in Canada you cannot nullify any vacation pay as the year cycle overs – time can be lost, but pay cannot. If at the end of the year an employee still has banked money, because they are at a 6% or higher allocation, then that money cannot be vacated – you either need to pay it out or roll it over. You can however, have a policy that the time is lost if you pay out the money.
Here is an example to illustrate:
Steve has 6 weeks’ vacation a year. Every 2 weeks of vacation is 4% accrual, so Steve is at a 12% accrual. At the end of the year, Steve has only taken 3 weeks’ vacation, but you do not allow time to roll-over each year. It was too busy with business demands, so Steve could never take his vacation and the business supported this. At the end of the year, Steve is owed the 6% accrued money still in his vacation accrual as a payout.
in reply to: Family status – accommodation. #91897Mirella,
Picking up children does not fall under the family accommodation regulations, and the fact that the employee has been doing this without notification or permission is definitely an issue that should be addressed. However, given he is 10.5 years in, you may not want to enforce discipline, considering he is an outside sales rep and working remote.
Hours of work and remote work are often areas for conflict. Let me ask you, is the rep hitting his quota? If the rep is only working 6 hours a day, maybe he needs his salary adjusted accordingly? If the rep is just taking a break at 3 to pick up his kids, that is a whole other discussion.
We wouldn’t recommend contacting the school or asking for proof. We would suggest you have a conversation about hours of work and salary, and if this is a good employee (10.5 years would suggest he is hitting targets), propose that he either start 2 hours earlier, take a reduced salary to reflect the hours worked, or work with you to come up with a modified schedule that makes everybody happy.
In addition, you should re-enforce that although you are amenable to work with him as a remote role, that doesn’t mean he can change his schedule whenever he wants – you are responsible for his health and well-being within the hours of work, his leaving while on the clock could pose an OHS liability if he were to get in an accident for example.
HR Insider staff
in reply to: Overtime Exemption – Professionals #91854Because of the exceptions for professionals in Manitoba, you do not have to specifically write this into your handbook or contracts in order to be compliant; however, not all professionals are aware of these exceptions and you may want to include it in their contracts to be explicit and stave off any culture issues in the future.
HR Insider Staff
in reply to: Quebec Mandatory Holidays #91835Either Good Friday or Easter Monday is a holiday, not both by law, but you can still make both a holiday.
HR Insider staff
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