An employer cannot force his employees to denounce their coworkers.

Release date: March 1st, 2016

The union disputed the validity of the provisions of a code of ethics which, among other things, stated that these unionized employees were obliged to denounce to their department heads any employee acting in contravention of the code of ethics or of any other of the employer’s rules. According to the arbitrator, the employees’ only obligation is to perform their work regularly, diligently and honestly. They must also abide by the rules set by the employer. As for their duty of loyalty, it is limited to not working against the interests of the employer. Since the employees are not part of management, they are not required to actively promote the employer’s interests. The latter, therefore, cannot oblige his employees to denounce any breaches to the code of ethics that they might witness. He can encourage them to denounce a serious situation, but he cannot force them to do so.

Journal de Montréal v. Syndicat des travailleurs de l’information du Journal de Montréal (CSN) DTE 2015T-231, 2015 QCTA 52, François Hamelin Esq.


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