Canadian Employment Law Today | 3
Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2017
Cases and Trends
Worker's firing following
work refusals upheld
Attitude and reorganization were reasons for worker's dismissal,
not his work refusals and safety complaints: Court
BY JEFFREY R. SMITH
A NOVA SCOTIA company has won an
appeal to overturn a reinstatement order for
an employee it said was fired for legitimate
business reason, not the employee's safety
complaints and work refusals.
Herbert Jewers was a maintenance
mechanic for DSM Nutritional Products,
a supplier of vitamins and nutritional
solutions in Mulgrave, N.S. He was hired in
December 2012.
DSM took safety seriously and took
multiple measures to ensure its workplace
was as safe as possible. e company
gathered statistics, studied best practices,
compared results with its multi-national
operations, and regularly updated safety
policies and practices. Jewers and other
employees were trained on company
safety policies, which included a standard
procedure on work refusals. If an employee
refused work because of hazardous
conditions, the employee was to fill out a
form and discuss it with her supervisor and
the joint occupational health and safety
committee.
Jewers complained on several occasions
about how DSM's "lock out, tag out, try
out" (LOTOTO) procedures specified in
the company's safety policies were applied.
ese procedures were required by the Nova
Scotia Occupational Health and Safety Act
(OHSA). He also had problems with other
safety issues, but the LOTOTO issues were
his biggest concern, to the point where
he invoked his right to refuse work due to
dangerous conditions under the OHSA.
Jewers refused to work on May 3, 2016,
over the LOTOTO procedures and did
so again for the same reason the next day.
DSM investigated on both occasions and
each time another employee was assigned
to complete the work. However, Jewers
refused to fill out the necessary forms,
didn't want to discuss the issues, and said
"It's not my job to fix it." Jewers eventually
returned to work and, though the issue was
resolved informally, he continued to raise
safety concerns.
Worker didn't participate
in work refusal follow-ups
A little more than two months later, on
EMPLOYEE'S on page 9 ยป
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