Source: www.hcamag.com
Employment lawyer weighs in on the human vs robot debate
With more and more Canadian employers opting to dabble in ChatGPT and AI, employees are understandably anxious.
Data from Robert Half’s recent survey, released this month, found that 37% of organizations are looking at generative AI – with 35% of Canadian companies already using the bots in organizational processes. As AI continues to grow and thrive, the question on both employers and employees’ lips is “Can a worker be fired and replaced by a robot?”
“The general answer to that is yes, they can,” says Gavin Marshall, partner at legal firm Roper Greyell LLP. “An employer is entitled to terminate an employee for any lawful reason in Canada – and the introduction of technology which makes employees redundant in the work they were previously doing can result in layoff.”
There are some nuances to that, however. It comes down to a judgement call about whether an employer can replace an employee with AI – or if they reassign them to new duties. And the issue is only further compounded in unionized workplaces, Marshall tells HRD.