Career Q & A
By Michael Mayne
January 17, 2005
I work for a large nonprofit organization where I am a health
and safety committee member. There are many safety hazards in my workplace
that I have brought to the attention of management and they continue to
disregard the situation. Management also are not adhering to their own Sick
Time policy and send threatening e-mails to employees telling them not to
take sick time off. If we do then we face being fired. Recently, management
accused a worker of abusing a client but there were eyewitnesses to confirm
that this did not occur. Nevertheless, the worker was fired as a result.
We feel we are working under a weak manager. What are our options?
It sounds to me as if your workplace is dangerous in many ways. Not only do you have the safety hazards to contend with, but the added stress of threatening e-mails makes it even more challenging.
Workplace safety is an issue that concerns us all. However, as a member
of the health and safety committee in your workplace you have the added
responsibility of overseeing and maintaining the well-being of all employees.
By identifying potential hazards and bringing them to the attention of management
you've done the right thing. But in this case, it is only half the job.
Under normal circumstances, one would think that letting your employer know
about hazards would be all you would need to do and he/she would be more
than willing to maintain productivity and address the safety hazards. However,
in this case you may need to exercise some of your other options.
Depending upon the nature of your particular workplace and the nature of the safety hazards, here are some options:
- Seek legal counsel
- Exercise your right to refuse work
- Leave your place of employment
Seek legal counsel
By seeking legal counsel from a lawyer who specializes in employment law, you
could get a better sense of your rights and obligations with regard to this
particular situation. Seeking legal counsel doesn't obligate you to act upon
the advice given by the lawyer. However, discussing your situation might not
be protected by confidentiality agreements if the lives of your coworkers
may be in danger.
In every province, most workers are protected by an Occupational Health
and Safety Act. By refusing to acknowledge the potential safety hazards,
your employer is in violation of the legislation. This act obligates the "employer
to cooperate with and help the joint health and safety committee to carry
out its responsibilities. For Ontario in particular, the employer is required
to:
- Provide any information that the committee has the power to obtain from the employer;
- Respond to committee recommendations; and
- Give the committee copies of all orders and reports issued by the Ministry of Labour inspector.
The employer must respond to any written recommendations from the committee, in writing, within 21 days. If the employer agrees with the recommendations, the response must include a timetable for implementation. For example, if the employer agrees that a special training program should be established, the response must say when the program will begin to be developed and when it will be delivered. If the employer disagrees with a recommendation, the response must give the reasons for disagreement [sections 9(20) and (21)]".
Exercise the right to refuse work
As you are aware, the purpose of the health and safety committee is to make recommendations
to the employer and to the workers on ways to improve workplace health and
safety. However, the Occupational Health and Safety Act gives any worker
(protected under the act) the right to refuse work that they feel is unsafe.
In order to refuse work, the employee must immediately tell their supervisor
or employer that the work is being refused and explain why [section 43(4)].
The supervisor or employer must investigate the situation immediately. If
the situation is resolved at this point, the worker will return to work.
If after the supervisor has investigated the situation, the worker still feels
the work is unsafe he or she can continue to refuse work [section 43(6)].
At this point, the work refusal is escalated and the Ministry of Labour needs
to be contacted. The Ministry of Labour will send an inspector to your workplace
to investigate the situation and decide whether the work is likely to endanger
the worker or not. The inspector will give his or her decision in writing
to all involved. If the inspector finds that the work is not dangerous, the
worker will be instructed to return to work. If the inspector finds the work
dangerous he or she will inform the employer of the changes that need to be
made. In some cases the inspector will oversee the changes being made at a
particular site at the expense of the employer. According to the Act, an employer
does not have the right to discipline, penalize, dismiss, suspend, or threaten
to do any of these things to a worker who has obeyed the law [section 50(1)].
Any worker who believes he or she was unfairly disciplined by the employer
may file a complaint with the Ontario Labour Relations Board (www.olrb.gov.on.ca/english/homepage.htm).
Leave your place of employment
Another option is to leave your place of employment. If you feel that you are
unable to deal with the situation or fear that there may be repercussions
related to the state of your working relationship with your coworkers and
employer after the health and safety concerns have been dealt with you may
feel it is necessary to move on.
However, I would suggest that you collect any documentation you can and seek
legal counsel before making such a decision because there may be repercussions
based on your responsibilities as a health and safety committee member and
your knowledge of the safety hazards in the workplace.
I am sure this is not going to be an easy decision for you to make. On the
one hand, I am certain you want to make the workplace a safer environment
for everyone to work in. However, you need to remember that this is a delicate
situation and the way you go about this could colour your business relationships
and your ability to find work in your particular field in the future.
Michael Mayne, M.B.A., CMA, is Managing Partner and a Certified Professional Career Counsellor at Catalyst Careers, a Career Transition, Counselling, and Outplacement firm. Michael has been involved in the not-for-profit sector for many years, and is currently President of ALS Canada. To contact Michael, visit: www.catalystcareers.com.
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