OHSA does not protect against retaliation for merely sustaining injury: OLRB

The Occupational Health and Safety Act may protect employees against retaliation for asserting their rights under that Act, but not for merely sustaining an injury, the Ontario Labour Relations Board has decided.

An employee filed a complaint under section 50 of the OHSA. She asserted that by not giving her the job of Manager of Corporate Learning, the employer retaliated against her because she sustained an injury, and that that retaliation violated the OHSA.

The OLRB stated that even if it were true that the employer retaliated against her for sustaining a workplace injury, “sustaining an injury is not an assertion of a right under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and hence there is no basis for a reprisal complaint.

Section 50 of the OHSA provides that an employer must not dismiss, discipline, penalize or intimidate or coerce a worker “because the worker has acted in compliance with this Act or the regulations or an order made thereunder, has sought the enforcement of this Act or the regulations or has given evidence in a proceeding in respect of the enforcement of this Act or the regulations or in an inquest under the Coroners Act.”

None of those circumstances were present in this case.  As such, the OLRB dismissed the retaliation complaint.

Krupp v UNIFOR, Local 229, 2015 CanLII 2111 (ON LRB)

 

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Adrian Miedema

About Adrian Miedema

Adrian is a partner in the Toronto Employment group of Dentons Canada LLP. He advises and represents public- and private-sector employers in employment, health and safety and human rights matters. He appears before employment tribunals and all levels of the Ontario courts on behalf of employers. He also advises employers on strategic and risk management considerations in employment policy and contracts.

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