Thousands of public servants apply for exemptions to Ontario’s return-to-office mandate

Thousands of public servants have requested exemptions to the Ontario government’s upcoming order to return to the office full-time, as unions say they are set to meet with the province’s top bureaucrat later this month to plead their case for flexible work arrangements.

Dave Bulmer, president of Ontario’s professional employees union AMAPCEO – which has 17,000 members – said there have been about 4,500 requests for remote or hybrid work arrangements in the last three weeks.