My employer punished me after my work injury, what can I do?

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In detail

The list in section 32 is long and it closes with a catch-all: dismiss, suspend, transfer, "practice discrimination or take reprisals against him, or impose any other sanction upon him or refuse to reinstate him in an employment contrary to a decision of the Commission". It covers two grounds, not one: the employment injury suffered, and the exercise of a right conferred by the Act. The second paragraph leaves unionized workers a choice: "resort to the grievance procedure set down in the collective agreement applicable to him or submit a complaint to the Commission in accordance with section 253".

The time limit has a precise starting point, and it is not the one people assume: the thirty days run from knowledge of the action, sanction or measure. The CNESST puts it plainly: "A worker has 30 days after the event in question to file a complaint." The section adds an obligation that goes with the filing: "The worker shall transmit a copy of the complaint to his employer." The CNESST describes the route: the complaint questionnaire is the entry point, and "If the complaint is admissible, they will be directed to the appropriate procedure for filing an official complaint."

A presumption exists, inside a six-month window. Section 255: "If it is shown to the satisfaction of the Commission that the worker was the object of a sanction or action referred to in section 32 within six months of the date on which he had suffered an employment injury or the date on which he had exercised a right conferred on him by this Act, there is a presumption in his favour …" · and then "the employer must prove that the sanction was imposed or the action taken in respect of the worker for another good and sufficient reason".

The complaint is assigned to a mediator/adjudicator, who first proposes mediation; failing an agreement, there is a hearing and then a decision. The CNESST writes: "The parties have 60 days to contest the decision before the Tribunal administratif du travail." A figure of 45 days circulates for contestations before that tribunal: it does not come from the Act. Section 359 AIAOD, which covers the contestation of a decision made on review, says 60 days.

What to document

The date each decision was RECEIVED · that is what starts the time limits, not the date printed on the letter. The pay slip, written by the employer and whose minimum content the law sets. The actual hours worked. And every written exchange, with its timestamp: a day where everything went normally is a non-event that nothing records for you.

Official sources

• art. 253 de la Loi sur les accidents du travail et les maladies professionnelles (RLRQ c A-3.001) · read on 2026-08-09

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