The provincial health officer is lifting an order that obliged employers to allow employees to work from home, if they so choose.
Throughout the pandemic, many employers chose to allow emploees to work from home, if possible. Some have since been gradually bringing workers back into the office, many of them on hybrid schedules.
And some were legally obliged to let workers work from home, if the employee insisted on doing so, and if it was possible to do the work remotely from home. That is no longer a legal requirement.
Employers can still choose to let employees work from home, but they are no longer obliged to allow it. On Thursday, the provincial health officer varied a workplace safety order.
"The previous version of the order contained a section that has been removed," the PBO says in a press release. "That section required employers to allow workers to work from their private residence, if possible, given the nature of the work involved, unless the employer had an operational requirement to have the worker at the workplace."
"All workplaces must continue to have COVID-19 safety plans in place, and the PHO's face coverings order continues to apply to some workplaces."
