Rights and Responsibilities of Employers and Employees | Éducaloi (2024)

For things to go well at work, the employer and the employee must each respect certain legal obligations.

Main Responsibilitiesof Employees

Employeeshave responsibilities towardstheiremployers, even ifthey workpart timeor don’t have a written contract withtheiremployers.

These arethemain responsibilitiesof employees:

• to personally do the worktheywere hired to do
• to dotheir workcarefullyandseriously(In some cases, theycould be fired or disciplined ifthey’reoften late for work,or ifthey’reabsenttoo often orfor nogoodreason.)
• toavoid puttingthemselvesor othersindanger
• to followtheir employer’sinstructions(There are some exceptions.For example, ifan employerasksan employeeto do something dangerous or illegal,the employeedoesn’t havetofollow these instructions.
• to beloyal and honest

When EmployeesDon’tRespect TheirResponsibilities

Ifemployeesdon’t respecttheirresponsibilities,theemployeris allowed totake certain actions:

• disciplineemployees, such asgivinga writtenwarning,orsuspendingthem
• takeother actionagainstemployees,such asgivingaletter evaluatingtheirperformance,ordemotingthem (that is, giving thema lower job)
• fireemployeesifthey dosomething very serious, such asstealing from the office
• takeemployeesto court to makethempayan amount of money(forexample, ifthe employeequitswithouttellingtheemployerin advance, or iftheemployeequitsbefore the dateintheemployment contract)
• takeemployeesto courtto stopthemfrom doingthings that areharmful tothe business

Employers’ResponsibilitiesTowardsEmployees

These are the main ones:

• Employersmustgivetheir employeesa place to work andmake suretheyhave access to it.Theymustgivethemthe tools, equipment andother thingstheyneed to dotheirwork.
• Employersmustpaytheir employeesthesalary and benefitstheyagreed to,includingvacation, paid holidays and other types of holidays.
• Employersmustmake sure that working conditions protecttheir employees’physical and psychological health and safety.
• In some cases,employersmustgivetheir employeeswritten noticethattheircontracts areending or thattheyare being laid off.Note thatemployerscanpayemployeesa sum of moneyinstead of giving thenotice.
• Employersmusttreattheir employeeswith respect.Theymust makesuretheir employeesare notharassedor discriminated against.
• Employers must take steps when they know, or reasonably should know, that employees are exposed to domestic, family or sexual violence in the workplace. They must do this whether the employee is working in the office or working from home.

NOTE: Ifan employeesignsawrittencontractwiththeemployer, it mightplacemore responsibilitiesontheemployerthanthe onesrequired by law.

For example,an employment contract might say that the employerhas topay employeeswhohave tousetheir owncarsto dotheirjobs. Or thecontractmightalsosaythat theemployerhas topay backtheir employeesfor travel or entertainment expensesiftheyshowtheirreceipts.

When Employers Don’t Respect Their Responsibilities

Employees and employers can try to settle things by talking to each other.In some cases, employeesmusttrytalkingtotheiremployer before taking any furthersteps.

Employeescanfileacomplaintwiththe following:

• Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail(CNESST or workplace health and safety board)
• Canada Labour Programofficer
• Tribunal administratif du travail(TAT or Administrative Labour Tribunal)
• Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (Quebechumanrightscommission)
• Canadian HumanRightsCommission
• The small claims court(which is part of theCourt of Quebec), theSuperior Courtor theFederal Court

The office ortribunalat whichto fileacomplaintdependsonwhichlawapplies tothesituation,thejurisdiction, the amountof moneythe employee isasking forand whetherthe employeebelongsto a union.

Ifthe employeebelongsto a union,theunion canusually present a grievance(a complaint)onthe employee’sbehalfforsituations like these:

• The employee disagreeswiththeemployer about whattheunion contract (called a “collective agreement”)says.
• Theemployerdid not respectone ofthe employee’slegalrights.

A person called the “grievance arbitrator” decides whether the grievance is justified. If the disagreement is about the employee’s health and safety at work, the employee can file a complaint with the CNESST in certain cases.

Employees shouldtalk to a labour law expertbefore quitting a job. The expert can tellemployeeshow quitting will affecttheirrightstofilea complaint.The expertcan also tellthemhow to preventtheiremployer from takingthemto court afterquitting.

Unionized Workplaces

Theemployer andtheunion canagree ontheemployees’working conditions, for example,annual vacations, pay increasesand sick leave.These working conditions are then written in the collective agreement.A collective agreement is a contract between the employer and all the employees. It is the union that negotiates the collective agreement with the employer. The union acts on behalf of all the employees.The responsibilities contained in the collective agreement are in addition tothe responsibilitiescontained in the law.