Employment Insurance (EI)

Decision

[1] I am allowing the appeal. The Claimant had just cause for leaving his job because he was required to work excessive overtime hours and had no reasonable alternatives to quitting when he did. This means that he is not disqualified from receiving benefits.

Overview

[2] The Claimant worked for a construction company as a mechanical/electrical coordinator for about nine months. He quit his job on April 9, 2019. He told the Commission that he resigned because of harassment by a project manager. At the hearing, he argued that he quit because he felt harassed by his employer after he refused to continue to work excessive unpaid overtime.

[3] The Commission decided that the Claimant did not have just cause for leaving his employment because he had reasonable alternatives to leaving. The Claimant is now appealing the Commission’s refusal to pay him benefits to the Social Security Tribunal. I have to decide whether the Claimant has proven he had just cause for leaving his job.

Issue

[4] I must decide whether the Claimant is disqualified from being paid benefits because he voluntarily left his job without just cause. I must first decide whether he left his job voluntarily. I then have to decide whether he had just cause for leaving because he felt harassed by his employer, or because he was required to work excessive overtime hours.

Analysis

Did the Claimant leave his job voluntarily?

[5] The Claimant agrees that he quit his job on April 9, 2019. I see no evidence to contradict this. I find that the Claimant left his job voluntarily.

Did the Claimant have just cause for voluntarily leaving his job?

[6] The parties do not agree that the Claimant had just cause for voluntarily leaving his job when he did.

[7] Claimants are disqualified from receiving benefits if they leave their job voluntarily and do not have just cause.^{Footnote 1} When I decide whether the Claimant had just cause to leave, I have to look at all of the circumstances that existed at the time he quit, including a list of specific circumstances.^{Footnote 2} The law says that a claimant has just cause to leave if, considering all of the circumstances, they had no reasonable alternatives to quitting their job when they did.^{Footnote 3} It is up to the Claimant to prove this.^{Footnote 4}

[8] A claimant may have just cause to leave their employment voluntarily if they are harassed^{Footnote 5} or experience antagonism with a supervisor when they are not primarily responsible for the antagonism.^{Footnote 6} Claimants must try, in most cases, to resolve workplace conflicts with an employer, or show they made efforts to seek new employment before deciding to quit a job.^{Footnote 7}

[9] Claimants may also have just cause for voluntarily leaving their employment if they are required to work excessive overtime.^{Footnote 8}

[10] The Claimant argued that he left his employment because he was required to work a lot of unpaid overtime and his project manager harassed him when he objected to these requirements. He testified that he worked approximately 10-20 hours of overtime every week for several months without any additional pay or time in lieu. His work assignments were out of town, and he often had to drive home for several hours after working 10-12 hour shifts. He said that commuting home after long shifts was dangerous because he had difficulty staying awake for a drive that took four hours or longer. He was once even required to work a 36-hour straight shift due to flooding at a client’s site. He never got time in lieu or additional pay for any overtime hours he worked.

[11] He said that after several months he refused to work so much unpaid overtime. When he objected to the overtime requirements, his project manager harassed him by raising his voice and threatening him that he would not receive a bonus unless he worked overtime. The Claimant sent notice that he would resign, but then agreed to meet with a company vice president and a human resources representative to try to resolve the issue. However, he said that they did not take his concerns seriously and the issue could not be resolved.

[12] The Commission submitted that the Claimant did not have just cause for leaving because he had reasonable alternatives. It argued that he could have raised the harassment issue with his employer, requested a transfer or found new work before quitting his job. It also argued that the project manager’s behaviour was not harassment, and the Claimant could have looked for another job before leaving.

[13] The Commission accepted the employer’s statement that salaried employees got time in lieu for any overtime, so the Claimant was paid for his extra hours. However, I accept the Claimant’s sworn testimony that he was regularly required to work an additional 10-20 overtime hours per week, and that he got no pay or time in lieu for that extra work. I found his testimony credible since he testified in a straightforward and forthright manner and his statements were consistent with his previous comments to the Commission.

[14] The employer told the Commission that the Claimant quit because it was not a “good fit” and that he was “not willing to work overtime, even though the job sometimes required overtime.”^{Footnote 9} I find that an additional 10-20 hours of unpaid overtime per week is an excessive requirement. I also accept the Claimant’s evidence that he tried to resolve his complaint about overtime requirements by speaking with a vice president and a human resources representative. However the employer was not receptive to his concerns.

[15] The Claimant stated that he started looking for a job but did not ask for a transfer since there were no other job sites available at that time. He testified that the Commission did not ask him how much overtime he had worked for the employer. The Commission filed no evidence that it asked the Claimant for details of his overtime requirements or whether the employer ever offered him time in lieu. I accept the Claimant’s sworn testimony and find on the balance of probabilities that the Claimant was not compensated in any way for his overtime work.

[16] I agree with the Commission’s submission that the project manager’s behaviour in raising his voice to the Claimant does not alone rise to the level of harassment. However, I find that it is unreasonable to expect an employee to regularly work an additional 10-20 hours per week without payment or time in lieu of overtime. It is particularly unreasonable if they must make a long commute home.

[17] Considering all the circumstances, including the excessive unpaid overtime and the Claimant’s attempts to resolve his concerns, I find he had just cause for leaving his employment when he did.

Conclusion

[18] I find that the Claimant is not disqualified from receiving benefits. This means that the appeal is allowed.