Section 174.1 — Canada Labour Code: Right to refuse

Subject to subsections (2) and (3), an employee may refuse to work the overtime requested by the employer in order to carry out the employee’s family responsibilities referred to in paragraph 206.6(1)(b) or (c). An employee may refuse to work overtime only if they have taken reasonable steps to carry out their family responsibility by other means, so as to enable them to work overtime; and even though the steps referred to in paragraph (a) have been taken, they are still required to carry out that responsibility during the period of the overtime. An employee is not to refuse to work overtime if it is necessary for them to work overtime to deal with a situation that the employer could not have reasonably foreseen and that presents or could reasonably be expected to present an imminent or serious threat to the life, health or safety of any person; threat of damage to or loss of property; or threat of serious interference with the ordinary working of the employer’s industrial establishment. An employer shall not dismiss, suspend, lay off, demote or discipline an employee because the employee has refused to work overtime under subsection (1) or take such a refusal into account in any decision to promote or train the employee.