What options do you have?  Can you refuse to transfer?  If you accept, will the years of your past service be recognized?

Aleem Ghanny had been working for 18 years at a Downtown Toyota dealership in Toronto.  Suddenly, he was told that his position as a service manager would end and that his job would be relocated to another related dealership close by, where he could continue working at the same rate of pay.

Ghanny believed that his years of service would no longer be recognized and he was worried that the new dealership would also soon close.  Doing what he thought he was legally entitled to do, he rejected the transfer based on his two concerns and instead sued for wrongful dismissal because his original job disappeared.  As well, Ghanny refused to report for work and began to look for another job.

The court ruled that Ghanny’s refusal to accept the employers offer was wrong, since the position and pay were the same even without the guarantees and that he had an opportunity to continue working instead of being unemployed.

It is always good to ask for advice from an expert who will carefully consider whether it makes sense to reject an arguably comparable job offer even if there are serious concerns about the job.  Whitten & Lublin’s lawyers will provide expert legal counsel to employees and employers.

The full article A refusal to return goes wrong written by Daniel Lublin, Toronto Employment Lawyer, has been published in Metro.