On or before your first day of work, your employer must give you a copy of your employment agreement. The agreement should contain information about your occupation, wage and working conditions. You and your employer must sign this agreement, and it must be written in English or French.
In addition, your employer is required to provide you with reasonable notice before laying you off. If they do not, they must pay you termination pay, which is based on how long you have been working for that employer and depends on which province or territory you are working in.
Your employer is required to provide a safe workplace and train you to do your job safely. This includes training you to use any equipment or machinery and provide you with protective equipment, if necessary.
You cannot be forced to do any work you think is dangerous, and you cannot be fired or denied pay for refusing to work under dangerous conditions.
If you report any danger in the workplace, your employer must look into it. You have the right to refuse to work until you and your employer agree that:
There are certain situations where some people must be treated differently to prevent or reduce discrimination. An employer may have to make changes to an employee’s work environment or duties to make it possible for that employee to do their job. This is the duty to accommodate and it applies to needs that are based on one of the grounds of discrimination.
If you have been asked to perform dangerous work, your work conditions are unsafe or you have been injured or sick because of your work, you should contact your provincial or territorial workplace health and safety office to report the problem.
If you think you are not being properly paid, treated unfairly or your employer is not respecting your employer agreement, you should contact your provincial or territorial employment standards office.
Most provinces and territories offer workers compensation benefits, which are payments to make up for lost wages when workers are injured or sick because of their work. It is illegal for your employer to stop you from making a worker’s compensation claim.
