Can My Employer Force Me to Return to Work in Office?
Amazon recently announced a full return-to-office (“RTO”) policy, effective early 2025. This marks an end to the hybrid policy from the pandemic era, where workers were just required to be physically in office three days a week. Workers may anxiously be watching this occur from one of the biggest companies and beginning to wonder: can my employer force me to return to work in the office?
The answer to that largely depends on the terms of your employment agreement. Unless the contract clearly states otherwise, employees usually do not have the ability to choose whether to work in office or remotely. Where a contract specifically states that the employer has the right to determine the place of work, then workers impacted by RTO policy likely have little recourse.
However, if a contract is silent, the longer an employer maintains a change to remote or hybrid work, the more of a potential argument there could be that there has been a unilateral change to a fundamental term of the agreement, and hence, a potential constructive dismissal with severance owing.
The best-case scenario is where the contract does lay out a right to remote or hybrid work. This often occurred for employment commenced during the pandemic. An RTO policy would then more easily constitute a constructive dismissal, again leading to potential entitlement to a severance package even in the case of resignation.
If an employee was induced to leave previously secure employment on the basis of permanent remote or hybrid work, that would even further strengthen an argument for constructive dismissal.
There could also be human rights issues engaged here. Return-to-office policies are likely to disproportionately impact workers with children or other family members they have to take care of. While Amazon laid out exceptions to the policy, it also introduced another layer of leadership approval for exceptions. An employer is required to accommodate to the point of undue hardship. If the policy surrounding exceptions is too strict, then it exposes employers to claims of discrimination under the Ontario Human Rights Code. Even if the discrimination is unintentional, a worker could be entitled to general, non-taxable damages.
How Can Whitten & Lublin Help With Return to Work Policies?
Policies like this can be distressing for employees, particularly those who have come to rely on a hybrid or remote structure in arranging the rest of their daily lives. If you find yourself questioning, “Can my employer force me to return to work in office?’, an experienced employment lawyer can help you determine your options. If you are facing an impending RTO policy and would like to discuss next steps, please contact Whitten & Lublin online or by phone at (647) 951-8130 today.
Author – Sohrab Naderi