Not Hazardous for Long-Term Care Employees to Work 16 Hours in a Day

A municipality ran long-term care homes, which operated 24/7. A union raised concerns about employees at the homes working excessive hours without adequate rest. But an arbitrator found that the law didn’t bar employees from volunteering to work a second, overtime shift and thus 16 hours in a row. In addition, there was no meaningful correlation between workplace incidents or injuries in the homes or resident care complaints and staff routinely working double shifts, which was common practice in the healthcare industry. So the Board concluded that there was no evidence that working a double shift causes any harm or significant hazard to be avoided [Durham (Regional Municipality) v. Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 132, [2016] CanLII 8803 (ON LA), Feb. 25, 2016].