Employers reminded of legal obligations, best practice in requiring people return to office
Amid the Ontario government’s bid to bring workers back to the office full-time starting January 2026, stakeholders are raising questions about the government’s readiness to undertake such a task.
Premier Doug Ford has given a directive that public service employees must increase their in-office attendance to four days per week as of last week and transition to full-time in-office hours by January 2026.
However, unions say the government does not have the infrastructure or processes in place to support such a move.
Dave Bulmer, president of AMAPCEO—which represents 17,000 professional, administrative, and supervisory employees in the Ontario public service—claims that ministries and agencies across the province are struggling to accommodate the influx of workers, with some locations missing “entire floors worth of space,” according to a CBC report.
“There’s had to have been a lot of ad hoc arrangements being made by local managers and directors, because they just don’t have the space to accommodate people,” he said. “So, things are not going exactly to plan.”
Ontario Health, for one, “does not have sufficient space to accommodate employees” and is “having to temporarily resort to desk-sharing assignments as they transition back to five days a week in-office,” according to AMAPCEO.
The government's mandate "has caused incredible confusion and stress as employees scramble to make arrangements accounting for this completely unnecessary step backwards."
Meanwhile, the Central Employee Relation Committee (CERC) at the Ontario Public Service Employees Union said it is challenging the mandate and that it has filed application with the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB), asserting that the employer’s RTO rollout is "premature and violates the statutory 'freeze' period during bargaining".
RTO: 'exclusive management right'
When the Ontario government announced the RTO back in August, Caroline Mulroney, president of the Treasury Board, noted that the government “has been closely monitoring the evolution of in-workplace standards for public and private sector organizations”.
“The return to a five-days-per-week, in-workplace standard represents the current workforce landscape in the province and it reinforces our commitment to reflecting the people and businesses we serve across Ontario,” she said.
“This transition is an important step that supports the government’s ongoing efforts to build a more competitive, resilient and self-reliant Ontario.”
The federal government has said that in public service, the employer has “the exclusive management right” to designate the location of work and to require employees to report to their designated workplace.
“We understand that this is the case not only for the federal government, but for all provincial and territorial counterparts as per their respective governance,” it said.
Accommodating office workers
Employers also have legal responsibilities in the bid to call workers back to the workplace. The Directive on the Duty to Accommodate continues to apply in the hybrid work environment, says the federal government.
"If an employee faces a barrier under the 13 prohibited grounds for discrimination as listed in the Canadian Human Rights Act, they may request accommodation from their manager," it says, adding that requests for accommodation must be assessed by each department on a case-by-case basis.
As the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) says: “Whether you support or oppose returning to office, or are facing challenges that require accommodation, the employer has an obligation to ensure employees have everything they need to do their job and to do it safely.”
The employer must also accommodate workers’ requests to be allowed to work outside of the physical workplace “on a case-by-case basis”, and workers have the right to refuse unsafe work, according to the group.
Encouraging office attendance
For employers to successfully bring workers back to the workplace full-time, they should start by listening to workers, according to Kyla Dewar, content marketing leader at Achievers.
“Concerns about commuting, work-life balance, or lost flexibility aren’t just noise — they’re valid. Create space for honest dialogue through town halls, surveys, or manager check-ins,” she said. “Then act. Whether it’s offering transit stipends, flexible hours, or a clear ‘why’ behind the mandate, small accommodations can go a long way toward making employees feel heard, not herded.”
Employers must also highlight to workers the benefit of coming back.
“Stats are nice. Stories are better. Share real-life wins from teammates who’ve found value in returning to the office — more collaboration, faster feedback, stronger connections,” said Dewar. “Case studies and testimonials help paint a picture of what’s possible beyond the commute and the cubicle.”
Some experts have also previously shared with Canadian HR Reporter strategies for successful RTO mandates.
