Legal Considerations for Adopting a Four-Day Workweek in Ontario

​Canadian and U.S. companies that have tested a four-day workweek reported positive results and don’t plan to return to the standard five-day week, according to research from nonprofit 4 Day Week Global.

Employers thinking about switching to a four-day workweek need to consider the legal and practical implications of the change and how exactly they would implement it. In Canada, employers would need to make sure the new time structure doesn’t violate human rights and other protections, including specific provincial laws, legal experts note.

Legal considerations “will depend largely on what other changes are being made along with the change to a four-day workweek. If this means employees are working longer hours during those four days, employers will need to be cognizant of the meal break and rest requirements in employment standards legislation, as well as daily overtime requirements [that] exist in some provinces,” said David Fanjoy, a lawyer with McMillan in Toronto.

If longer hours are not contemplated and a pay reduction is associated with the new four-day workweek, employers will want to carefully review their liability for constructive dismissal claims, he said.

Remembering Rights, Standards

Employers adopting four-day workweeks don’t necessarily stretch eight-hour workdays to 10 hours or cut pay, said Lindsay Koruna, a labor and employment paralegal with SpringLaw in Toronto. A few of her firm’s clients have implemented a four-day workweek structure, she said. The…