Tag Archives: Disability

Alberta Human Rights - What workers need to know

Alberta Human Rights – what workers need to know

In Alberta—or anywhere—people should not be treated unfairly at work because of who they are. From racism to homophobia, sexual harassment to ablism, discrimination in the workplace is not acceptable and fortunately, there are rules in place to protect workers.

This workshop helps workers to understand discrimination and the protected grounds in Alberta, learn about accommodations and how to request them, and discover what you can do if you have faced discrimination at work.

Disclaimer: This workshop is for informational purposes only. The information provided is current as of March 18, 2025. Always check with the Alberta Human Rights Commission to get the most up-to-date information about human rights legislation in Alberta.

Photo of a light skinned woman straight brown hair, holding her head in her hands with a disressed look on her face. She is seated at a white table in front of an open Macbook.

So, you’ve lost your job. Now what?

Leave a reply

No matter how it happens, losing your job is a miserable experience. It can leave you in shock, upset and extremely worried about the future. While it’s reasonable to give yourself a day or two to process what happened, there are some entitlements that you could lose out on if you wait too long. 

Here are some things to consider if you recently lost your job:

1. Did you lose your job through no fault of your own?

If you lost your job through no fault of your own, i.e. due to restructuring at your workplace, your place of work shutting down, or because you were employed on a seasonal basis), you may be eligible for Employment Insurance. 

Employment Insurance is a program that provides income to workers who have been without work of pay for at least 7 consecutive days. You must apply for Employment insurance (EI) within 4 weeks of being laid off, or you could lose your benefits.

If you need help applying for EI, and you were working in Alberta, you can get free assistance from the Workers Resource Centre. 

If you lost your job due to your own misconduct, i.e. not showing up for your shifts, stealing from your employer, abusive behaviour towards co-workers, it is unlikely that you will be eligible for Employment Insurance. If you need help applying for other income support or connecting to community resources, the Workers’ Resource Centre can offer you free assistance.

2. Were you terminated after taking time off work?

In Alberta, there are a number of job-protected leaves that offer protections to workers who need to take time off work for various reasons, including:

  • Long-term illness or injury
  • Maternity and parental leave
  • Personal and family responsibility
  • Death of a family member or pregnancy loss
  • Death or disappearance of a child
  • Caring for a critically ill family member
  • Domestic violence 
  • Covid-19 quarantine or vaccination 
  • Attending a citizenship ceremony

If you were fired after taking a job-protected leave, you may want to consider filing a complaint with Alberta Employment Standards. You can file the complaint yourself, hire a lawyer, or access free help from the Workers’ Resource Centre.

Please note: you only have 6 months from the time

3. Did you experience any form of discrimination on the job or while being terminated?

In Alberta, it is prohibited to discriminate against workers based on several protected grounds under the Alberta Human Rights Act. At work, you are protected from discrimination based on:

  • Disability – either mental and physical
  • Gender (including pregnancy and sexual harassment), gender identity and gender expression
  • Sexual orientation
  • Race and colour
  • Ancestry and place of origin
  • Religious beliefs
  • Age
  • Marital and family status
  • Source of income (such as government assistance or disability pension)

If you feel that you have experienced discrimination at work, you have 12 months to file a human rights complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission, even if you no longer work there. The Workers’ Resource Centre offers free information and assistance concerning human rights complaints in Alberta. You may also wish to consult with a lawyer to access legal advice.

Losing your job is never easy, but it’s essential that you know your rights and act on them before it’s too late. If you’ve recently lost your job

10 rights at work you probably didn’t know you have in Alberta

Leave a reply

From the 3-hour minimum rule to vacation entitlements for part-time employees (yes, you read that right!) how well do you know your rights rights at work? The Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta has put together this article with 10 commonly overlooked rights for Alberta workers.

We are lucky to have laws in Alberta that protect us at work. There are many different laws but the big ones are:

Unfortunately, many people don’t realize the protections they have under the law. Here are some of the rights you might not know you have.

1. Your boss has to pay you for at least 3 hours of work – even if you were sent home early because there was not enough work to do.

If you worked for less than three hours, your employer must pay you at least minimum wage for three of hours of work (unless an exception applies – see below). A meal break of one hour or less is not part of the 3 consecutive hours of work. For example, if you work from 6pm to 9:30pm and take a one hour dinner break from 7pm to 8pm, your employer has to pay you for 3 hours even though you only worked for 2.5 hours.

If you worked for three hours or more, your employer must pay you for what you worked.

In some jobs, if you work less than 2 hours, your employer only has to pay for 2 hours of work. Those jobs are:

  • part-time employees in recreational or athletic programs run by a city, town, Métis settlement or a not-for-profit community service organization;
  • school bus drivers;
  • students 13, 14, or 15 years of age employed when the student is required to attend school.

2. You have the right to (and should) refuse any work that is unsafe.

Yes! It is your right to refuse work that is a threat to you or your co-workers’ safety and is beyond what is normal for your job. The Occupational Health and Safety Act protects you from getting in trouble from your boss if you refuse unsafe work.

3. Your boss can’t take money from your pay cheque for broken items or shortages at the cash register.

Your boss is never allowed to deduct from your wages for broken items, faulty workmanship or shortages in the cash register (if anyone else had access to it). But… these rules do not apply to your tips.

For example, if you dropped a glass at work, your boss cannot take money from your wages to buy a new one. Your boss could, however, take money from your tips that evening to cover the cost of the glass.

Read the full article at cplea.ca