Employees: Know Your Rights

There are a plethora of labor rights which afford employees the privileges, most conveniently omitted from employee handbooks. Know your rights to comprehend when you are being manipulated. Here are the top 10 rights you have as an employee:

 

1. An employer is required to pay workers the minimum wage for least 3 hours for any shift, regardless of hours actually spent working. Even if you were sent home early because there was not enough work to do, you are still entitled to $10.20 x 3 hours = $30.60
2. You have the right to reject any work not deemed safe for you or your co-workers, and poses a threat to you. The occupational health and safety laws prevent employees from getting in trouble with their bosses if they are presented with an aberrant nature of job.
3. Most employees are conditioned to believe they are in for a salary deduction for broken items or shortages at the cash counter. However, your boss is not at liberty to deduct from your wages for any faulty workmanship or broken items, if anybody else had access to it.
4. Once you have worked for the same organization for 12 months, you are entitled to paid vacation leaves, regardless of whether you are employed fulltime.
5. Your employer is responsible for your job safety and should ensure appropriate safety equipment is available at the workplace and employees know how to use it, lest an emergency arises. Safety equipment that prevents breathing hazards and noise levels exceeding legal limits must be supplied by the employer.
6. The workplace should be purged of discrimination and harassment and all employees should be treated justly, irrespective of race, color, gender, religion, ancestry, nationality, age, language, marital status, social status and sexual orientation.
7. Employers are required to accommodate employee’s special needs if they fall under the Human Rights acts, including any mental or physical disability.
8. It is against the law for an employer to hire an individual on any wage lower than the minimum wage, even if the employee consents to it.
9. If an employee works for more than 8 hours a day, they are entitled to overtime pay.
10. Know that you are being protected by the law. If your employer violates your rights, you have the right to file complaints without the sword of getting fired hanging over your head.

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