Let me mention first that my wife and I moved up to Whitehorse about two years ago and we love it up here.
But it seems that there is a Yukon attitude that some businesses have here that they can do whatever they want and no one will complain. It is that attitude that makes a society fresh for the taking.
In my case, I was employed with a major hotel in Whitehorse for more than two years and when I took time off for surgery, I was told I was no longer needed and that I was fired from my full-time job. Everyone I have talked to has said it was a dirty and lowdown deed to be done by the employer. But it is legal. The Yukon government rules are that if an employee takes sick time off (surgery) they can only take 12 work days off and after that time the employer can terminate the employee as long as the employer gives two weeks severance pay.
I don’t think this is right and I don’t think that the businesses of the Yukon should get away with it. Let me say that I am now looking for a job and I am presently on disability employment insurance, but I would prefer to be back at work.
I have looked at the possibility of talking to a lawyer about this to get my job back for wrongful dismissal but that would only mean that I would have my job only until my employer decided that I had done something wrong and again I would be dismissed. My point is that unless someone starts complaining, these kind of things will continue to happen with the businesses in the Yukon and we will never see the changes needed to not only make the Yukon larger than life, but the place for people to work and raise their families that would be the envy of the rest of Canada.
Randy Collins
Whitehorse