What can an employee do about a manager who belittles him? • Merit increases and maternity leave
What can an employee do about a manager who belittles him?
Question: My manager always belittles me and my work to my co-workers when I am not around. Is there anything I can do about this?
Answer: The courts have found it is an implied term of all employment contracts that the employer will treat the employee with civility, decency, respect and dignity. In other words, employees are entitled to be treated reasonably by employers. Employers may also be held liable if they allow managers and supervisors to treat employees disrespectfully. This means that they have an obligation to try to prevent workplace bullying.
Your manager, while not disrespecting you to your face, is clearly undermining your dignity behind your back. This kind of bullying can make going to work an unpleasant and stressful experience. But it may be difficult to speak up for fear of rocking the boat.
A first step is to talk to your manager about his behaviour. Indicate you are aware of his comments about you, and that you feel they are inappropriate. This conversation may be sufficient warning for him, and may result in him changing his behaviour. You can also try writing him a letter explaining your position.
If the behaviour does not change, it may be necessary to make a complaint to the human resources department or your manager’s superior. Before you take this step, it is a good idea to keep a record of any inappropriate remarks you have become aware of to back up your complaint.
If your complaint still has no effect, you can consider starting a civil law suit. A human rights complaint is another option, but it is only available where the disrespectful remarks constitute discrimination under the law (such as sexual or racial harassment.) Before you take either of these steps, however, think about the impact it could have on your employment. It may not be possible to continue working at the same place after taking legal action against your employer.
Merit increases and maternity leave
Question: Can an employer decide not to give an employee a merit increase if the employee was on maternity for most of the year, but met all her performance targets in the months she did work? In this case, the employee worked four of 12 months of the performance year.
Answer: In general the law provides that employees who have been on maternity leave are entitled to reinstatement in their former job or to a job in “a comparable position with no less favourable wages and benefits.” Maternity leave cannot interfere with the accrual of seniority or benefits attached to length of service. In other words, employers are not permitted to treat the start of maternity leave as the end of employment, and the employee’s return to work as the start of a new job, forcing the employee to start building seniority all over again.
On reinstatement employees returning from maternity leave are entitled to any general salary or benefit increases that have been given to all employees of their class in their absence. For instance, if all employees were given improved dental benefits while an employee was on maternity leave, that employee would be entitled to the same increase in benefits on her return.
But the situation is different where the salary or benefit increases are tied to the employees’ performance of work. Employers are not required to treat employees who have been on maternity leave as though they were working throughout their absence. They may be treated as any other employees who have been on leave from work without pay.
Accordingly employers are not required to give employees returning from maternity leave any salary increases other employees of their class have been given in their absence as a result of good performance. The returning employees have not performed the work, and therefore have not earned the increase.
But the situation is more confusing where the employee has met all performance targets during the year when she was working, but did not work for the full year. It would be a good idea to look over the merit increase policy, if there is one, to determine how employees on other forms of leave without pay would be treated under the policy. Employees on maternity leave may be treated the same. Also consider giving the employee a pro-rated increase, reflecting her good performance during her four months’ work, as this may avoid employee dissatisfaction and future legal problems.
Peter Israel is the head of Goodman and Carr LLP’s Human Resource Management Group. He can be reached at (416) 595-2323 or [email protected]. Address questions to [email protected].
Question: My manager always belittles me and my work to my co-workers when I am not around. Is there anything I can do about this?
Answer: The courts have found it is an implied term of all employment contracts that the employer will treat the employee with civility, decency, respect and dignity. In other words, employees are entitled to be treated reasonably by employers. Employers may also be held liable if they allow managers and supervisors to treat employees disrespectfully. This means that they have an obligation to try to prevent workplace bullying.
Your manager, while not disrespecting you to your face, is clearly undermining your dignity behind your back. This kind of bullying can make going to work an unpleasant and stressful experience. But it may be difficult to speak up for fear of rocking the boat.
A first step is to talk to your manager about his behaviour. Indicate you are aware of his comments about you, and that you feel they are inappropriate. This conversation may be sufficient warning for him, and may result in him changing his behaviour. You can also try writing him a letter explaining your position.
If the behaviour does not change, it may be necessary to make a complaint to the human resources department or your manager’s superior. Before you take this step, it is a good idea to keep a record of any inappropriate remarks you have become aware of to back up your complaint.
If your complaint still has no effect, you can consider starting a civil law suit. A human rights complaint is another option, but it is only available where the disrespectful remarks constitute discrimination under the law (such as sexual or racial harassment.) Before you take either of these steps, however, think about the impact it could have on your employment. It may not be possible to continue working at the same place after taking legal action against your employer.
Merit increases and maternity leave
Question: Can an employer decide not to give an employee a merit increase if the employee was on maternity for most of the year, but met all her performance targets in the months she did work? In this case, the employee worked four of 12 months of the performance year.
Answer: In general the law provides that employees who have been on maternity leave are entitled to reinstatement in their former job or to a job in “a comparable position with no less favourable wages and benefits.” Maternity leave cannot interfere with the accrual of seniority or benefits attached to length of service. In other words, employers are not permitted to treat the start of maternity leave as the end of employment, and the employee’s return to work as the start of a new job, forcing the employee to start building seniority all over again.
On reinstatement employees returning from maternity leave are entitled to any general salary or benefit increases that have been given to all employees of their class in their absence. For instance, if all employees were given improved dental benefits while an employee was on maternity leave, that employee would be entitled to the same increase in benefits on her return.
But the situation is different where the salary or benefit increases are tied to the employees’ performance of work. Employers are not required to treat employees who have been on maternity leave as though they were working throughout their absence. They may be treated as any other employees who have been on leave from work without pay.
Accordingly employers are not required to give employees returning from maternity leave any salary increases other employees of their class have been given in their absence as a result of good performance. The returning employees have not performed the work, and therefore have not earned the increase.
But the situation is more confusing where the employee has met all performance targets during the year when she was working, but did not work for the full year. It would be a good idea to look over the merit increase policy, if there is one, to determine how employees on other forms of leave without pay would be treated under the policy. Employees on maternity leave may be treated the same. Also consider giving the employee a pro-rated increase, reflecting her good performance during her four months’ work, as this may avoid employee dissatisfaction and future legal problems.
Peter Israel is the head of Goodman and Carr LLP’s Human Resource Management Group. He can be reached at (416) 595-2323 or [email protected]. Address questions to [email protected].
