Mental Health and Worker’s Rights

When I started my placement at SWEAC, as an Addictions and Mental Health Student at Cambrian College, I wondered how it was going to add on to my experience. Well, the organization was more about helping workers with their rights and my course was all about helping people with addictions and mental health recover heal. My perspective changed as the days went by.

All the clients who came to SWEAC spoke about the emotional trauma caused by losing their job and all the training and workshops revolved around how unfair treatment at workplace and termination without reason negatively impacted an individual’s metal health. Workplace is the one place where a person gets their salary through which they meet all their other needs whether it is to pay off their mortgage or buy their child’s favourite toy. Imagine the plight of a person who loses their job one week before Christmas. Instead of joy, his mind would be plagued by how he is going to survive before he lands another job especially if they don’t come from a financially secure background.

One day I had a client who spoke about the consequences faced after standing up against inhumane practices made at workplace. The individual was made to do extra work during their shift and they had to give up their lunch break to finish them and when they raised their voice, they created evidences of incomplete work and terminated him. At the end, they forced the individual to sign the full and final release papers which made it difficult if not impossible for them to pursue further action against their employer for wrongful dismissal. You might think that this is just an isolated incident but this is far too common in the Canadian workplace. One must always keep in mind that an employee is not required to sign the full and final release paper on the employer’s pressure at the moment it is kept in front of you at the office. An employee has the power to decide whether to sign it or not and also has the right to seek a proper legal advice on the same before making the decision.

In addition, I was given a task to do research on the Occupational Health and Safety Act, Ontario Human Rights Code, Workers Safety and Insurance Board and from my research I was fascinated to discover some rights. From the Ontario Human Rights Code, I learned that individuals cannot be denied housing just because a person has a mental health disability and also the home owners are obliged to accommodate them. This was interesting for me since usually mental illness is considered a weakness in many societies and people are dehumanized and thrown out of homes as they weren’t meeting certain functional standards set by landlords. From the Occupational Health and Safety Act, I learned that each party at the workplace plays a role to ensure that all the health and safety requirements are met at the workplace and the employer has the greatest responsibility for the same and also I learned that the Workers Safety and Insurance Board people can claim their benefits and services if they go through any work-related mental stress.

Overall, the journey at SWEAC has been informative and fruitful.

“One must always keep in mind that an employee is not required to sign the full and final release paper on the employer’s pressure at the moment it is kept in front of you at the office.”