Worker 'presumed to have been dismissed in reprisal for his request for parental leave,' says Quebec tribunal
A store manager in Quebec agreed to his employer’s request that he do some work while on parental leave. When he asked how he was going to be compensated for those hours, his employer fired him.
Now, the Administrative Labour Tribunal has nullified his dismissal and asked the employer to pay him the equivalent of his salary and other benefits missed by way of compensation, according to a report.
Before the 2022 holiday season, the store manager informed his employer that he was planning to take parental leave at the beginning of 2023, according to a report from The Canadian Press.
The employer then asked if the worker would be willing to do some work – such as making purchases and orders – during his leave. The worker “eventually” agreed to this, according to the report.
However, the employer then asked the store manager to postpone his parental leave, and the worker agreed "to accommodate the employer”.
As the days passed, the worker found it hard to obtain dates for his parental leave, according to The Canadian Press report posted on CTV News.
A previous report said Canadian paternal leave policies discourage fathers from taking time off from work to care for children.
Pay for work done during parental leave
Then the store manager reached out directly to the company’s president and asked questions about how he was going to be compensated for the hours he was “occasionally” asked to work during his parental leave.
Specifically, the worker asked how his company bonus would be calculated during his parental leave.
However, the president got offended with the worker directly reaching out, and with the workers’ questions, according to the report.
The president then told him that that day was his last day of work and he would have to return his keys the next day.
Employers’ allegations against the employee
In court, the employer said that the worker was dismissed for reasons such as blackmail, lateness and unsatisfactory performance, according to the report.
The employer filed evidence, but these consisted only of general allegations. The company could not prove claims of blackmail and unsatisfactory performance.
In fact, two weeks before he was fired, the worker had received a message from his immediate superior, saying: "Don't give up on your good work. I'm very happy with the way you're running the store,” according to The Canadian Press.
The worker "is presumed to have been dismissed in reprisal for his request for parental leave, a right within the Act respecting labour standards, and the employer failed to prove sufficient cause to explain his dismissal," administrative judge Pierre-Étienne Morand wrote in his decision, according to the report.
Morand concluded that "the dismissal was illegal."
The store had closed, but the arbitrator still ordered the employer to reinstate the worker. This is crucial to reestablish the worker’s employment relationship with the company and to enable the worker to recover his salary and other benefits, the tribunal explained.
In 2023, a hotel manager was awarded $15,000 in moral damages plus other compensation for a termination he said was done in bad faith and that put his family in a vulnerable position, causing stress.
When to take paternal leaves
The optimal strategy to take paternity leave for non-gestational parents is to divide leave, said No Regrets Parenting author Harley Rotbart, MD, according to Julia Dennison, senior editorial director at publication Parent.
Rotbart suggests considering the following paternity leave schedule:
- A couple of weeks at birth, when gestational parents need the most help
- A few around 3 months, when the other parent returns to work
- The rest between 6 and 9 months, when babies interact more and become even more fun to be around
