Hey Ontario people!

The Ontario Federation of Labour has launched a ‘Bad Boss Hotline’ and comment section on their website where people in Ontario can anonymously report violations of Labour Rights in response to the Minimum Wage increases in Ontario. Some businesses have been cutting paid breaks, taking tips, cutting hours, making employees pay for uniforms, and cutting other perks:

Bad Boss Hotline. You can tell your story below, or call the bad boss hotline: 1-855-531-0778.

um guys?

Its a bad take. How these franchise owners acts reflects directly on the company and vice-versa. If enough people boycott Tim Horton’s over these ‘rogue franchises’, I’m sure Tim Hortons will feel pressured to take action.

If Tim Hortons wants these franchises to change their act, and act in a more ethical fashion they can actually do that. They can pressure them in many ways.

In fact Tim Hortons and any other companies have the power to fire franchise owners by choosing not to renew their contracts. They can do this if they’re breaching their contracts, and according to Professor David Doorey of York University Tim Hortons franchises are actually doing that:

What the employer is doing here is almost certainly a breach of the employees’ contracts.  As a general rule, an employer cannot just unilaterally start changing conditions of employment without the consent of the employee.  To state the obvious, there is a contract that prevents this.  If breaks have always been paid, and if the employer has always paid 100% of benefit costs, then these are contractual entitlements that cannot be unilaterally stripped without running afoul of the contract.  I haven’t seen the written contracts, so it is always possible there is some sort of term in there that makes these benefits at the sole discretion of the employer.

For example:

Termination Of Franchise Agreement Warranted For Breach Of Agreement