Harassed to resign while she is off work sick

An accounting technician alleges that repeated requests from her employer to resign, while she was absent from work, constitute harassment. The evidence reveals that the employee left work because she was not feeling well and took personal belongings with her, raising doubts about her willingness to return to work. According to the tribunal, the employee’s absence was justified as soon as the employer learned that she was ill and that a doctor had prescribed rest, and the employer’s repeated requests for resignation constituted vexatious behaviour. Then, by claiming the existence of a resignation that he knew was false, the employer added insult to injury. A reasonable person placed in the same circumstances, under pressure to resign from a job held for more than eight years on the grounds that being absent due to illness harms the company, would see it as psychological harassment. The complaint is allowed.

Seyer et Kanwal inc.

2019EXPT-1121, 2019 QCTAT 2364 (DRT), Annie Laprade, j.a.