A labour arbitrator has held that the practice of unionized long-term care home employees voluntarily working two 8-hour shifts in succession did not violate the Ontario Employment Standards Act or Occupational Health and Safety Act.
With respect to the ESA, the arbitrator held that the practice did not violate section 18(1) which required that employers “give an employee a period of at least 11 consecutive hours free from performing work in each day.” That was because, according to the arbitrator, s. 18(1) permitted an employee to voluntarily work more than 13 hours in a day; as such, the collective agreement provision permitting double shifts was a greater right or benefit and thus did not violate the ESA.
The issue under the OHSA was whether the employer, by permitting employees to work double shifts, was violating its “general duty” under s. 25(2)(h) of the OHSA to take all precautions reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker, due to safety issues that could result from employee fatigue. The arbitrator noted that there was “no meaningful correlation” between workplace accidents or resident complaints and employees working double shifts. Also, the practice of double shifts was a reasonably-accepted industry standard. As such, the general duty under the OHSA did not require the employer to ban double-shifts.
The arbitrator stated, though, that employees should voluntarily assess, before they take on an added shift, whether they are too tired to work safely.
The Regional Municipality of Durham, 2016 CanLII 8803
