Mr. John Douglas:

Not only does the employer have control over what a person earns on a week-to-week basis, he or she can force him or her out of the social welfare system. An employee must work 19.5 hours to be entitled to family income supplement, FIS. Not only do employers control people's behaviour by messing around with their hours, they can mess up their part-time social welfare entitlements and FIS payments also. The control of this power has a chilling impact on many employees and their behaviour. It is unfair, unbalanced and an abuse of power. Asking whether we can balance the rights of employers with those of employees is akin to asking whether we can balance workers' rights with the right of employers to exploit their employees. That is a non-starter.