Focuses on human resources law from a business perspective, featuring news and cases from the courts, in-depth articles on legal trends and insights from top employment lawyers across Canada.
Issue link: https://digital.hrreporter.com/i/711342
8 | August 17, 2016 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2016 Cases and Trends Miraka started work at 8 a.m. and worked until 4 p.m. However, in the afternoon his wife called him and asked him to stay home the next day with their two young children because she wasn't well and didn't want any- thing to happen to them. Miraka knew his wife's issues were seri- ous and he didn't want to risk leaving the children home unattended. He didn't have any family to ask to look after the children on short notice because everyone was busy with their own lives. Miraka spoke to A.C.D.'s office manager after his wife's call, telling her he wouldn't be able to work the following day because he had to look after his children. Accord- ing to Miraka, the office manager told him it was fine and family was "number one." However, the office manager later disputed Miraka said anything about his wife being ill and she only told him it was fine for him to stay home. Miraka stayed home on June 12 as he had requested. However, the next day, when he was expected back, he didn't show up for work and he hadn't called A.C.D. before his shift to say he wouldn't be coming in. After his shift was supposed to start on June 13, Miraka called the office manager to say his wife hadn't improved and he had to stay home again to take care of his children. He hadn't slept well the previous night and claimed he was busy running errands and taking care of his family, so he was late call- ing in. He also felt it wasn't necessary to call in before the start of his shift because the company already knew he was at home tak- ing care of his family. Return to work didn't last long Miraka returned to work on June 14 after missing two days. After he arrived, he went to the cooler room to start loading skids for his truck. He later testified the cooler room supervisor gave the order to start loading and when he picked up the first box, he felt a sharp pain in his side. He picked up a second box and felt a sharp pain again, so he stopped working. He went to the office manager and told her he was sorry because he had missed the previous two days, but he couldn't work due to pain in his abdomen that started when he picked up a box. e manager suggested it might be his appendix and he should "do what he had to do." According to the manager, A.C.D.'s owner was standing a few feet away and told Miraka, "I don't think this job is suitable for you. Find yourself another job." Miraka denied that he saw or spoke to the owner before he left. e office manager thought it strange be- cause as far as she knew, the drivers hadn't started working yet. She asked the cooler room supervisor if it was possible Miraka had hurt himself picking up a box, but the supervisor said no because no one had start- ed working yet. Other delivery drivers were standing around the office and no one was in the cooler room. CREDIT: PHUGUNFIRE/SHUTTERSTOCK WSIB on page 9 » Employee needed to stay home a second day for family « from DISMISSAL on page 1