The Ontario Labour Relations Board has reinstated an employee
who was fired shortly after he engaged in a work refusal under the
Occupational Health and Safety Act. The decision shows
that the reprisal provisions of the OHSA do indeed have teeth.
The employee worked for an auto parts company. He had
refused to lift nine bins, claiming that the bins were overloaded
and that lifting them would endanger his health and safety. A
manager was angry about the work refusal.
Approximately one week later, the company suspended the
employee, allegedly because of his failure, approximately 3 weeks
earlier, to advise the employer that a company vehicle he had been
driving had bald tires. When he returned to work after the
suspension, he was sent home and asked to see a doctor due to a
workplace injury before the suspension. A few days later, the
employer reduced his hours without explanation, and shortly
afterwards he was told that his employment was terminated "by
head
