CHAUDHRI: Misbehaving labour inspectors must be held accountable

If a dishonest CEO is ousted from a company for cause, after fudging accounting records to claim more pay, most of us would nod with approval.

But do we share the same collective sentiment when employees of lower rank commit the very same misdeeds? According to the law, there is no question that we absolutely should.

A recent Toronto Star article reported on the misconduct of Ontario labour inspectors in 2020 that sparked nine internal investigations for alleged wrongdoing.

The investigations led by the Ministry of Labour uncovered a scheme where several labour inspectors claimed significant chunks of overtime for periods of time actually spent eating and drinking coffee at restaurants with colleagues.

Notably, the misbehaving inspectors were participating in the ministry’s underground economy initiative in 2020 that was launched as a workplace blitz to root out employers that were “subjecting workers from vulnerable populations to unsafe working conditions.”