November 22nd, 2016
On November 10 2016, the Association of Justice Counsel was granted leave to appeal the Federal Court of Appeal decision relating to call duty. The Federal Court of Appeal determined that there was no infringement of lawyers' privacy rights when the Employer required them to be on call duty with employer-imposed restrictions on their personal activities while off duty and that the policy was not unreasonable.
The question of how far an employer can go in imposing restrictions on employees' personal activities while off duty is one that affects many of our members as well as workers across the country. In this particular case, the employer is the federal government and is not bound by any minimum employment standards.
The question of whether privacy rights and the extent to which they should be protected under
section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is also a question of national importance, not only for lawyers but also for workers across the country.
The matter is tentatively set to be heard by the Court in the spring of 2017.
As for those who continue to be on mandatory call duty and have their personal activities restricted, we are hopeful that this decision will settle the matter definitively, including other policy grievances on the same issue that have been referred to adjudication. Until then, the principles of "work now grieve later" apply.
We will continue to provide updates on the case as things develop.
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