After returning to work from sick leave my employer has decided to switch me from a part time hourly position to a full time salaried position. The problem is that when calculating the salary amount and converting it to an hourly amount it is less than the amount I was making when I was hired two years ago. Is this legal? Not to mention my first day back they tried to tell me I didn’t have a job to come back to. Any help would be appreciated as I am meeting with them tomorrow morning.
Labour board has been of no help, human rights board is so broad in their answers that they aren’t really any help either.
I am a canadian citizen.
Thanks
Hello,
Thank you for sharing your situation and question with us.
We can appreciate that you would be concerned about this situation.
You can find some detailed information regarding what your rights are on the Ministry of Labour website.
Here is an excerpt,
Personal Emergency Leave
Some employees have the right to take up to 10 days of unpaid job-protected leave each calendar year due to illness, injury and certain other emergencies and urgent matters. This is known as personal emergency leave.
Regularly Employ 50 or More Employees
Only employees who work for employers that regularly employ at least 50 employees are eligible for personal emergency leave. When determining whether the 50-employee threshold has been met, all employees of the employer are counted. It is the number of employees that is counted, not the number of “full-time equivalents.” Part-timers and casual employees are all included as one employee each in the count.
When a single employer has multiple locations, all employees employed at each location in Ontario are to be counted.
[…]
Reasons for Which an Unpaid Personal Emergency Leave May Be Taken
An employee who is entitled to personal emergency leave can take up to 10 days of unpaid leave due to:
Personal illness, injury or medical emergency,
[…]
Rights During Leave
Employees who take personal emergency leave are entitled to the same rights as employees who take pregnancy or parental leave. For example, employers cannot threaten, fire or penalize in any other way an employee who takes or plans on taking a personal emergency leave. See “Rights During Pregnancy and Parental Leaves” in the Pregnancy and Parental Leave chapter.
Here is an excerpt from the “Rights During Pregnancy and Parental Leaves” in the Pregnancy and Parental Leave chapter,
The Right to Reinstatement
In most cases, an employee who takes a pregnancy or parental leave is entitled to:
the same job the employee had before the leave began; or
In either case, the employee must be paid at least as much as he or she was earning before the leave. Also, if the wages for the job went up while the employee was on leave, or would have gone up if he or she hadn’t been on leave, the employer must pay the higher wage when the employee returns from leave.
If an employer has dismissed an employee for legitimate reasons that are totally unrelated to the fact that the employee took a leave, the employer does not have to reinstate the employee.
The Right to Be Free from Penalty
Employers cannot penalize an employee in any way because the employee:
took a pregnancy or parental leave;
It is best if you contact the nearest Community Legal Clinic that provides advice related to workplace issues for some assistance.
I hope this information is helpful. Please let us know if you have further questions and if there is any follow up to your question/situation.
=====Settlement.Org Content and Information/Referral Specialist, CIRSSettlement.Org
Hi,
Would there be a difference between sick leave (I was off for 3 1/2 months and now have a disability) and the Maternity/Parental leave? Here lies the problem as there are no answers (at least that I can find) on the MOL website that are specific to sick leave. My employer has now stated that the 27.9% pay cut is because the position is now a salaried position instead of an hourly position. Instead of being part time and being paid hourly they want me to go to full time and on salary, so work more hours for less pay.
Thanks
Hello,
Thank you for sharing your additional information and questions with us.
It is best if you contact the nearest Community Legal Clinic that provides advice related to workplace issues for some assistance.
I hope this information is helpful. Please let us know if you have further questions and if there is any follow up to your question/situation.
=====Settlement.Org Content and Information/Referral Specialist, CIRSSettlement.Org