What's Stopping Me From Moving To Costa Rica And Not Telling My Boss?

• Published date: 30 June 2022
• Subject Matter: Corporate/Commercial Law, Employment and HR, Corporate and Company Law, Contract of Employment, Unfair/ Wrongful Dismissal
• Law Firm: Roper Greyell LLP ' Employment and Labour Lawyers
• Author: Mr Justin Wong

Imagine you are on a nice sunny beach, feeling the warm ocean breeze on your face, and listening to the soothing sound of ' an Outlook e-mail notification!?!?

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work has become the norm for many, particularly for those in the tech sector. With Canadian travel restrictions easing and many seeking to improve their mental well-being by escaping their home offices, employees are thinking about working from abroad for short and extended periods. Although several countries, such as Iceland, Barbados and Costa Rica (to name a few) have introduced special visas for remote workers, there are important practical and legal considerations that need to be considered before heading away, whether permanently or just even temporarily.

An employer can dictate the work location

The saying that 'it's easier to beg forgiveness than it is to get permission' likely does not apply to one's work location.

A company may have expressly set out an employee's work location in a written employment contract or set out required rules for remote work in a remote work policy that an employee will need to follow. However, even if an employment contract or remote work policy does not expressly prohibit an employee from working remotely from another country or require that employee to get permission from their employer, unilaterally working remotely from a new location without permission could result in your dismissal for cause.

In Ernst v. Destiny Software Productions Inc. 2012 BCSC 542, a vice-president of operations living in Calgary was working for a Vancouver-based software company in accordance with a remote work agreement. As the agreement did not specify the location, the employee unilaterally moved to Mexico under the assumption that he could work remotely from there. However, the company did not agree and dismissed the employee after an investigation. The employee sued for wrongful dismissal. The B.C. Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit, finding that the employee's failure to return to work in Canada when requested to do so and for failure to disclose he was working in Mexico (when he falsely claimed to be home sick for a few days) amounted to just cause for termination.

Similarly in Staley v. Squirrel Systems of Canada Ltd. 2012 BCSC 739 aff'd Staley v. Squirrel Systems of Canada, Ltd. [2013] B.C.J. No. 860, a software support manager working for a Burnaby-based company without a written employment contract was temporarily allowed to move from...