In an Orwellian move, Alberta’s UCP government has announced drastic curtailments of workers’ rights under the guise of “Supporting Albertans during COVID-19”. Alberta has eliminated the right to 24 hours’ notice of a shift change, removed the requirement for notice or pay in lieu for group terminations, and made it easier for employers to get exemptions from all sorts of basic standards like overtime, minimum pay per shift, and termination pay.
It appears these changes were not made through legislation, passed with consideration of the Assembly, but by utilizing expanded powers given to Ministers under the Public Health (Emergency Powers) Amendment Act. It is questionable whether these changes are constitutionally permissible, and moreover they are an unnecessary, partisan attack on Alberta’s working people in a moment of crisis.
The press release announces that these changes are supported by Restaurants Canada, whose Board of Directors includes executives from corporations like McDonald’s, 7-Eleven, Boston Pizza, A&W, Subway, KFC, and Tim Horton’s.
The Alberta government has justified these moves by pointing to income support programs offered by the federal government for terminated or laid off employees - rather than employers footing the bill when they impose massive lay-offs, we all pay through CERB and other federal benefits. Effectively these changes create a scheme whereby massive corporations that have profited from an underpaid, precarious workforce for years are now being permitted to escape basic employment rights and obligations while being subsidized by taxpayers.
BC has not taken such anti-worker steps, and it could choose to go in an entirely different direction by rejecting exemptions sought by Restaurants Canada and protecting termination notice periods.
The BC Employment Standards Act exempts employers from termination notice requirements where “an employment contract is impossible to perform due to an unforeseeable event or circumstance other than receivership”. The Employment Standards Branch has amended its interpretation guide to highlight that business closures or staffing reductions due to COVID-19 could fall under this exemption. Workers should not accept this interpretation unquestioningly. Employers have alternatives to layoffs: they have access to a 75% wage subsidy from the federal government. Even if an employment contract becomes “impossible to perform”, employers should not be given an easy out of their legal obligations where this robust alternative exists. BC could solve the problem by defining “unforeseen circumstance” as excluding COVID-19 and, utilizing a play from Alberta, point to federal government wage subsidies to employers for justification.
by Andrew Tarver and Susanna Quail
This post is for general information only and does not comprise legal advice.