<\/p>\n
A few short weeks ago one of the central questions for employers was \u201chow long can a temporary layoff last in Quebec before it becomes a termination, triggering notice pay obligations under the Labour Standards Act<\/em>?\u201d [LSA]\n Obligations however continue to accrue and arise even during periods of layoff, obligations that are important for employers to bear in mind.<\/p>\n An example: While Section 82 of the LSA provides that a layoff that lasts less than six months is not a termination, and doesn\u2019t trigger payment of statutory notice, employers must think ahead of various other delays and notices that must be respected and that continue to run during the layoff, delays which may trip them up at the time when either they are ready to begin recalling employees to work or deciding how many and which employees are to be either recalled to work or severed from their employment.<\/p>\n Among these obligations is the notice to the Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity and the CNESST in the event of what the LSA deems a \u201ccollective dismissal\u201d. The number of employees that it takes to trigger a \u201ccollective dismissal\u201d includes employees laid off within a two-month window. The requirement may be triggered with as few as ten employees laid off within a two-month window.<\/p>\n If attention isn\u2019t paid to the number of employees laid off, the dates when they were laid off, who was or was not recalled and the dates of their recall to work, etc., the employer may wind up, several months into a layoff, triggering a \u201ccollective dismissal\u201d, even though the layoffs happened progressively, and too late to give the required notice under Sections 84.0.1 et seq. <\/i>of the LSA to the Minister. That notice varies between 8, 12 or 16 weeks depending on the number of employees involved. While there may be defenses available, costs for violation are far from negligible.<\/p>\n There is an old adage that says that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Employers cannot remain asleep at the switch!<\/p>\n Remember also that while you, as the employer, have the right to determine how a progressive recall to work will be effected, including who will be recalled to work, to which job, and in what number, consideration should always be given to various factors. Whether recalling \u201cx\u201d rather than \u201cy\u201d may lead to unintended consequences, even in situations where seniority is not an obligatory criterion to be born in mind. Recalling \u201cx\u201d rather than \u201cy\u201d may allow the employee who was not recalled to argue that what was a layoff became a constructive dismissal. Many factors need to be considered, including:<\/p>\n These are all relevant questions that need to be sought out. Problems can be avoided with careful consideration of these and other issues through seeking out and using professional advice. The trick to all of this is to stay alert to the challenges that are bound to arise. A few short weeks ago one of the central questions for employers was \u201chow long can a temporary layoff last in Quebec before it becomes a termination, triggering notice pay obligations under the Labour Standards Act?\u201d [LSA] Obligations however continue to accrue and arise even during periods of layoff, obligations that are important for employers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[244,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-labour-and-employment-law-en","category-bulletins-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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