Vacation already booked doesn't mean it can't change
Question: Can an employer force an employee to reschedule vacation time that has already been booked due to a change in workplace circumstances or any other reason?
Answer: Yes, an employer can force an employee to reschedule vacation time already booked with certain exceptions and qualifications.
If the employee works in Newfoundland and Labrador or Saskatchewan, the employer can cancel the vacation but is required to compensate the employee if the employee has incurred expenses that cannot be recovered. No other Canadian jurisdiction provides for this.
If the employee is non-union, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Watson v. Summar Foods Ltd. decided an employer could not dismiss an employee for taking her vacation when the employer demanded just days before the vacation that she change her out of country travel plans. The employer’s offer to compensate her for the last minute change was not enough. The employee went on vacation and found herself dismissed upon return. The court said the timing of vacation entitlement is not a benefit that an employer should take lightly. It found the employer had taken “an unduly rigid and inflexible position in refusing to make other arrangements for coverage to accommodate [the employee’s] long-standing travel plans.” Accordingly, the court found the employee was wrongfully dismissed.
Unionized employees may enjoy protections in their collective agreements preventing an employer from changing vacation once it is scheduled. In the absence of such a provision, an employer can exercise its management rights reasonably in cancelling vacation and rescheduling it. In a somewhat analogous case, U.A.W. v. O.P.E.I.U., Local 343, the collective agreement contemplated agreement between the employer and employee on when vacations would be scheduled but was silent about what would happen if the parties could not agree. The arbitrator said an employer could not unreasonably dictate the timing of vacations and both parties had to act reasonably in trying to arrive at a mutually agreeable time.
Absent contractual prohibition on an employer rescheduling vacation, and assuming reasonableness by the employer in forcing rescheduling of vacation time already booked, an employer may reschedule. Employment standards legislation in Alberta, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as the Canada Labour Code, stipulate employers are required to attempt to come to an agreement with an employee with respect to the timing of that employee’s vacation. Obviously, if the vacation needed to be rescheduled, an attempt to agree on it would be expected, and the employer could only proceed with rescheduling it if an agreement couldn’t be reached and it did so within reason.
As most provinces and the federal jurisdiction require an employer to give specific written notice of the employee’s vacation schedule, any rescheduled vacation must comply with that notice obligation.
