Can I get my job back if I am fired?

In most cases, you cannot get your job back if you are fired.

But you should get legal help if you think you were fired because of something that the ESA says you can do. This means that you were “exercising your rights under the ESA”.

If the Ministry of Labour decides that you were fired for that reason, they can order your employer to:

pay you, and
give you back your job.

Examples of exercising your legal rights under the ESA are:

taking pregnancy or parental leave
asking about your rights or asking your employer to obey the law
refusing to sign an agreement that affects your rights, for example, an agreement about overtime
making a claim against your employer
giving information to an Employment Standards Officer who is investigating your employer

You should also get legal help if you think you were fired:

because of your race, sex, age, disability, or other reason that goes against your human rights
because you raised a health or safety issue in the workplace

See Where can I get help and information? for where to get legal help. You may have more legal rights than those in the ESA.

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