Like the mythical sasquatch, the Loch Ness monster, or the abominable snowman, most of us have heard of it and some of us have read about it, but never have we seen the remedy of reinstatement in section 79(2)(b) of the Employment Standards Act (the “Act”) actually occur.

Section 79(2)(b) provides:

79

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(2) In addition to subsection (1), if satisfied that an employer has contravened a requirement of section 8 or 83 or Part 6, the director may require the employer to do one or more of the following:

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(b) reinstate a person in employment and pay the person any wages lost because of the contravention

Colloquially described as a “make whole” remedy, section 79(2)(b) gives the Director of Employment Standards (the “Director”) the discretion to order an employer to reinstate an employee and pay he or she any lost wages, if the employer has contravened one or more of sections 8 (employment-related misrepresentations to the employee), 83 (termination of employment in retaliation for an employee’s enforcement or an inquiry as to his rights under the Act), or Part 6 of the Act (refusal to allow an employee to return to work following a statutorily mandated pregnancy leave , parental leave, family responsibility leave, compassionate care leave, reservists' leave, bereavement leave or jury duty).

While reinstatement is not a remedy that is ordinarily available at common law, it is more commonly sought and awarded in a union context, where an employee grieves an unjust dismissal. This remedy, undoubtedly a powerful one if awarded, enables the employee to make up not only their past wage loss and to continue to receive the economic benefits of their employment in the future, but also restores any psychological benefits they derive from their job. Therefore, the transference of the remedy of reinstatement from the union experience to the non-union sector in British Columbia, in the form of a statutory remedy under section 79(2)(b) of the Act, at first glance should be a welcome option for employees in the non-union sector as providing a comparable remedy to reinstatement available to their counterparts in the union sector.

However, in practice, in British Columbia, the statutory remedy of reinstatement has yet to make an appearance in an award by the Director or the Employment Standards Tribunal (the “Tribunal”), although dismissed employees have sought it in several cases. Partly, the absence of this remedy may be attributed to the limited circumstances in which it may be available or can be sought in the non-union sector in British Columbia, namely, it may only arise if the Director is satisfied that one or more of sections 8, 83 and Part 6 of the Act were breached (limitations that do not exist in the union sector). It may also be that in some cases it is impossible or impractical to order reinstatement of the wrongfully discharged employee who otherwise satisfies one or more pre-requisites of the reinstatement remedy in section 79(2)(b) of the Act. Examples of this would include circumstances where the employer ceases operations or the employee has secured alternate employment after filing a complaint or left B.C., and not expressed any interest in being reinstated to their former position .

In such cases, there is an alternative “make whole” remedy that can be found under section 79(2)(c) of the Act, i.e. to pay a person compensation instead of reinstating the person’s employment - which the Director has been relatively more willing to award. The Tribunal in Afaga Beauty Service Ltd. delineated a list of non exclusive factors in determining appropriate compensation for loss of employment which included: “length of service with the employer, the time needed to find alternative employment, mitigation, other earnings during the unemployment, projected earnings from previous employment and the like.” While clearly not as extensive and as fulsome a remedy as reinstatement under section 79(2)(b) of the Act, the remedy under section 79(2)(c) seeks, as far as is economically possible, to return the employee to the position he or she would have been in had the employer’s misconduct not occurred. As described by the tribunal in Photogenis Digital Imaging Ltd./PDI Internet Café Incorporated , the compensation awarded under this section “must be commensurate, in an economic sense, with reinstatement”.