Wildfire evacuees' jobs lack legal protection, lawyer says

A Kelowna lawyer says the jobs of tens of thousands of British Columbians forced from their homes by wildfire are not protected by law.

Labour and human rights lawyer David Brown says the B.C. Employment Standards Act does not protect employees who at this stage, may been prevented from working for over a week from dismissal due to disaster-related absences.

"The B.C. Employment Standards Act provides minimum rights and entitlements to most workers in British Columbia, and that's going to cover leaves of absence for parental reasons, maternity leave, bereavement leave," Brown told Radio West host Alya Ramadan.

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"That being said, there's nothing in the legislation that protects individuals in the event of a natural disaster like what we're dealing with in the Interior of B.C.

"In theory, if someone is displaced from work because they're being evacuated there's nothing in the British Columbia Employment Standards Act that protects them from termination. It's not a recognized right."

Focus should be on safety

That said, Brown says he's never heard of anyone ever being dismissed from their job due to a disaster.

For that reason, he says evacuees and people who may become evacuees are better off focusing on their own safety and the safety of their loved ones than whether or not they'll be coming back to work.

"However, it is important that when they've had a moment to catch their breath and to think about what their situation is, that they should contact their employer, touch base with them, let them know what the situation is," he added.

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Brown says it's a good idea for evacuees to let their employer or co-workers know where they are, what their situation is and if they have an estimated time for returning to work.

And it's a two-way street, he says: employers should be reaching out to employees who may be displaced, even if it's just to see how they're doing.

Time for change?

Brown says B.C. is not unique in lacking legislation protecting employment from disaster scenarios. He's not aware of any jurisdiction in Canada that has such laws.

So is it time for that to change?

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"Obviously that's a conversation that may be had at a provincial level," he said.

"However, when we're thinking about global warming and natural disasters like floods and fires and earthquakes happening on what seems like a far more common basis, maybe this is something we need to be thinking about to make sure people displaced by natural disasterhave employment protections in place."

With files from CBC Radio One's Radio West