Flexible work arrangements for federally regulated employees

What is a flexible work arrangement

Flexible work arrangements are changes to an employee’s terms and conditions of employment. This allows them to achieve better work and home life balance.

The Code provides other rights and protections that help employees achieve work life balance, such as:

existing and new leaves
improved bereavement leave, and
substitution of a general holiday for another day

Flexible work arrangements cover:

the location of work, such as working from home or a satellite location
the scheduling of work hours, such as modified work schedules or split work shifts
the number of work hours, such as part time, job shares, reduced hours

Benefits of flexible work arrangements

Rights and protections in support of work life balance can benefit both employees and employers by:

decreasing employee absences
improving employee health
improving satisfaction in the workplace
improving employee selection and retention, especially:
- among millennials
- more experienced workers, and
- workers with family responsibilities
creating a workplace that is productive, innovative and effective when completing their daily tasks

Right to request a flexible work arrangement

As an employee, you may exercise your right to request a flexible work arrangement under the Code. A flexible work arrangement can include changes that allows you more flexibility to balance work and home life.

However, the right to request flexible work arrangements under the Code only applies to:

employees after 6 months of continuous employment, and
flexible work requests for changes to the employee’s:
- number of work hours
- work schedule
- employee’s location of work

As an employee that meets the above criteria, you can make a written request for flexible work arrangements.

Making a flexible work arrangement request

When making a request for a flexible work arrangement, you must ensure that your request is dealt with in a certain way.

Before you make a request

You must have worked for the same employer for 6 continuous months to be protected when making a request. You must also ensure your request meets the criteria mentioned in the section right to request flexible work arrangements.

Submitting a request

You must submit your request to your employer in writing.

In writing, you must include:

your name
date of request
description of requested arrangements
requested start and end dates
expected effects on employer

Once you submit your request

Once you submit your written request, your employer has 30 days to respond and provide 1 of 4 possible responses in writing:

approve as is
approve in part
propose an alternative
deny

Federally regulated employers are required to consider employee’s requests for flexible work arrangements without consequence to the employee. Following your request, you are protected from reprisals (for example, termination, demotion).

If your employer denies your request

If your employer denies your request, they must provide justification for doing so in their response.

Employers may deny a request for one or more of the following reasons:

the requested change would result in additional costs that would be a burden on the employer
the requested change would have a negative impact on:
- the quality or quantity of work and the ability to meet customer demand, and/or
- the performance of the employee’s workplace
the employer cannot reorganize work among existing employees or hire more employees to manage the requested change
there would not be enough work available for the employee if the requested change was granted
the requested change does not meet the criteria mentioned in the section right to request flexible work arrangements

Protections against reprisals

An employer cannot reprimand you just because you made a written request for a flexible work arrangement. Protection from reprisal states that employers are prohibited from:

dismissing, suspending, laying off, demoting or disciplining an employee
taking the request for a flexible work arrangement into account in any decision to promote or train the employee, or
threatening to take any of these actions

The Canada Industrial Relations Board handles all complaints related to protections from reprisals.

If you believe you have been, for example, dismissed, demoted, suspended, or disciplined for making a request, you may file a complaint to the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB).

Filing a labour standards complaint

As a federally regulated employee, you can file a labour standards complaint if:

you believe you have been reprimanded because you made a request for flexible work arrangements, and
your request meets the criteria outlined in the section Right to request flexible work arrangements

To learn more about your labour rights and obligations please consult the Federal labour standards web page.

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Date modified:: 2024-02-22

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