Federal workers’ medical requests to work from home are being overlooked, union says

A public service union says federal workers’ medical requests to work from home are being denied. CTV’s Kimberley Fowler reports.

Federal public servants will soon be required to work in-office for a minimum of four days per week, but one federal workers’ union says requests to work from home based on medical needs are being overlooked.

Marc Brière, president of the Union of Taxation Employees, says workers’ medical requests for hybrid or fully remote work are getting denied or delayed as the federal government focuses on implementing its return-to-office mandate.

“There’s a lot of unnecessary delays, maybe because of the surge in number of demands, but it seems like they take forever,” Brière told CTV News Ottawa.

“In the meantime, they’re forcing people to come to work at the office without the proper accommodation and then it creates issues in the workplace. So, it’s like they’re pushing people to the last resort and then we need to file grievances and human rights complaints, and what have you, which we feel is unnecessary.”

The federal government announced in February that it would be expanding its return-to-office mandate for public servants, requiring executives to be onsite five days per week by May 4, 2026 and other employees to be in-office a minimum of four days per week by July 6, 2026.

Brière says the federal government has an obligation to review requests, especially for medical exemptions.

“I think that people need to calm down and come back to their senses and go back to the basic — respect the legislation,” he said. “Those who are not legit will be rejected but the rest of them, the majority, which we feel is legitimate, should be accommodated.”

CTV News has asked the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat for comment but has not yet received a response.

With files from CTV’s Kimberley Fowler.

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