

The OHS laws clearly allow employees to refuse work when they have “reasonable” cause to fear serious injury or illness to themselves and/or others. So, don’t be surprised if one of your employees engages in a work refusal out of fear of catching coronavirus from a co-worker, client or member of the public. While it might seem overly dramatic, such a refusal may be justified, especially if the individual to which the employee is exposed has recently traveled to Wuhan, China, or another high-risk area. Although no coronavirus refusal cases have yet been reported, there have been at least 8 work refusal cases involving other infectious illnesses from previous outbreaks, including SARS, Ebola and Hepatitis B. The Scorecard below summarizes how each of these cases turned out.
CASE | GROUNDS FOR REFUSING | OUTCOME | EXPLANATION |
Caverly v. Canada (HRSD) | HRSD worker fears getting SARS from immigrants | Refusal Invalid | Worker not exposed to infection risk, but HRSD should have done a better job of addressing concerns |
Chapman v. Canada (Customs and Revenue Agency) | Customs agent fears getting SARS from new Asian immigrants | Refusal Invalid | Custom agents don’t encounter individuals with SARS; even if they did, they can’t get it from proximity to infected individuals |
Cole v. Air Canada | Air Canada ticket agents fear getting SARS from Asian passengers | Refusal Invalid | Medical evidence shows SARS isn’t transmitted by proximity to infected individuals; airline adequately addressed SARS concerns |
Hogue-Burzynski v. VIA Rail Canada | Railroad crew members fear getting intestinal virus from sick passengers on previous trip | Refusal Invalid | Railway took steps to minimize risk and workers had to accept that risk as part of their job |
Swan River Valley Hospital (Re) | Hospital workers fear getting Hepatitis B | Refusal Invalid | Not reasonable to require hospital to vaccinate all workers, especially when they didn’t demand vaccination in collective bargaining |
Walton v. Treasury Board | Prison guard fears getting Hepatitis B from inmates | Refusal Valid | Fear of being doused with waste bucket is reasonable given that Hepatitis B is spread via contact with feces, urine and semen |
Unreported | Quebec paramedics fear getting Ebola from patients | Refusal Valid | Employer didn’t have ample infection control measures in place |
Unreported | Ontario paramedics fear getting Ebola from patients | Refusal Invalid | Risk of paramedics actually being exposed only hypothetical |