Canada: What to Do About Bad Employees

We often read about toxic bosses. What about their employee equivalents? I’m referring to the employee who wants to extract as much money from the company for as little work as possible—and who is prepared to go to any means to do so.

In fact, given the abundance of social legislation in Canada supporting employees, they have ample available (often governmental) helping hands enabling them to act toward that goal.

What can an employer do? Here’s a list of common scenarios and how best to navigate them.

False Overtime Claims

In Ontario, an employee is entitled to overtime at time and a half if the employer permits them to work more than 44 hours per week. In other provinces and federally, it is 40 hours.

What does one do about an employee who creates and submits fictitious records of their hours, often after they are fired? I have seen those overtime hours add up to more than the employee’s salary!

Many employers are flummoxed. The employment standards branch, to which the employee complains to obtain that time and a half, requires employers to keep records of employees’ time; if they have not created those records as required, the branch will presumptively accept the employee’s version.

Calling evidence to disprove the employee’s record of the specific times they worked can be difficult and, sometimes, impossible.

The best technique employers have to protect themselves is to have a written memo, signed by everyone, advising that employees are prohibited from ever working over those 44 hours a week without the employer’s written consent.

If an employer does that—unless the employee can prove the employer was willfully oblivious, observed all of the overtime being worked, and permitted that overtime—the employer will have protected itself.

False Illness Claims

Many employees combine long weekends and compliant doctors to obtain illegitimate paid vacations, taking time off work just because they wish to. If the employer has a paid sick leave policy, the employees will be paid for those days. Subject to certain statutory exceptions in some provinces, there is no inherent obligation for employers to pay for sick days. Still, most midsize and large employers will pay for at least some number of days per year.

Often, other employees will know if a co-worker has a practice of making such false claims and will resent having to work when that employee does not. This affects morale as well as productivity.

What is the solution? In those provinces that permit employers to demand medical notes, require one so the employee cannot spend a day of leisure or visit the cottage but must instead attend the doctor’s office. If you suspect that the employee is not genuinely ill, contact them to ask relevant business questions to ensure they are engaged and prevent them from having a real holiday.

Finally, if a particular employee has a pattern of suspicious absences, have their doctor list their limitations and functionalities, and require the employee to work within that modified job description. As a last resort, if you believe they have no illness at all, have them attend an independent medical examination with a doctor you retain and then insist on compliance with that doctor’s recommendation.

‘Working’ from Home

Of course, some employees can pretend to be working by simply staying near their phones; however, these employees provide little value because, in the absence of supervision, they are not working at all.

One solution is to install software that monitors employees’ keyboards to ensure they are productive.

Another is to order them to begin attending the office for work (where they cannot take their dogs for a walk or watch that daytime soap).

Yes, you can order those employees who are ineffective when working from home to come back to the office—whether the issue is that they are simply not working or that they are ineffective in that modality—while allowing employees who are effectively working from home to continue doing so. 

Employees Looking for Severance

Some employees push their employers, including in the ways discussed above, hoping to be fired. They misbehave hoping their misconduct will be rewarded.

What can employers do?

Start documenting employees’ activity and providing warnings. If an employee miscalculates, you might be able to develop a case for cause or at least give the employee the perception that they could lose such a case; this perception would make them ultimately change their conduct or take less if you terminate them. You can also assign them duties that minimize the ill effect of their conduct—duties that would not amount to a constructive dismissal. And you can warn them that continued misconduct will affect their reference. References can last for one’s entire career.

Frivolous Free Claims

Employees can make claims without any foundation, including claims related to human rights and occupational health and safety. This is often done in the hope of provoking a firing.

The problem is that retaliating against the employee by firing them is itself a violation of the statutes about which they made claims, so that is not a viable option.

Some of these statutes have provisions whereby the cases can be dismissed on an early basis if they are frivolous. Again, although this cannot be threatened, as nothing can, there is nothing wrong with telling future employers about the employee’s history.

Disparagement of the Employer

A disgruntled employee might disparage an employer, whether on social media or during an in-person conversation. It might even rise to the level of defamation, permitting a lawsuit or, depending on the context, be cause for dismissal without severance—sending a message to other malcontents.

Howard Levitt is an attorney with Levitt LLP in Toronto. © 2025 Levitt LLP. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission of Lexology.