Employees in Alberta have an inherent right to speak up
against or report workplace issue, such as harassment,
discrimination, health and safety violation. An employee may also
legitimately provide critical feedback of decisions or actions of
their manager without being insubordinate. However, managers may
not always appreciate their junior employees questioning their
management or actions. In certain cases, they may take disciplinary
actions against the employee entirely to silence the employee or
punish them for speaking up. This is reprisal in
Alberta.
It is not uncommon for managers to target the complainant
employee and manufacture fictional performance issues, attitudinal
problems, and raise other complaints such as insubordination.
Often, they are motivated with a view to punishing the employee for
complaining by demoting the employee, or in some cases, by firing
the employee for cause.
