Ontario’s finance minister says there will be “flexibility” to rules requiring all civil servants to work five days a week in the office during the FIFA World Cup, as unions representing those workers say disruptions associated with the games highlight how rigid and confusing the policy has become.

Peter Bethlenfalvy made the remarks during an unrelated news conference Wednesday, stressing that the province will make allowances for individual workers during game days on June 12 and 26. The minister is set to take on the cabinet portfolio which oversees the Ontario civil service return-to-office policy from outgoing minister Caroline Mulroney later this week.

“Our government has always been clear since day one. There’s flexibility, there’s allowance for circumstances and this is an example of one of those accommodations,” Bethlenfalvy said. “We’re providing that flexibility and we’re going to continue to move forward.”

WATCH | Ford says Ontario is ‘working on’ office space as public service workers return full-time:

Ford says Ontario is ‘working on’ office space as public service workers return full-time

Tens of thousands of provincial government staff in Ontario are now required back in the office full-time. Premier Doug Ford says the province is in the process of figuring out additional office space as the mandate comes into effect.

Ontario announced controversial policy last summer

Last August, Mulroney announced that the 60,000 employees of Ontario’s public service, provincial agencies, boards and commissions had to “increase their attendance to four days per week” starting Oct. 20, 2025, and transition to full-time hours in office effective Jan. 5.

It was a change to a policy that had been in place since April 2022, when provincial government employees were mandated to be in their offices at least three days per week.

That shift has angered workers, and the unions that represent them, who have argued that they demonstrated the hybrid work arrangements could be successful both before and during the pandemic. 

Bethlenfalvy defended the policy on Wednesday, showing no sign the province intends to reverse course.

“Having people at the office is going to allow for collaboration, having people work together,” he said. “It’s good for young folks who are learning problem solving and for others for mentorship. So, I think we’re all aligned that this is something we’re going to continue to support going forward.”

Provincial messages on FIFA game days confusing, union president says

But the head of AMAPCEO, which represents some 17,000 professional, administrative and supervisory employees in the Ontario Public Service, said the government has sent conflicting messages about how workers could approach FIFA game days. 

Last week, a memo obtained by CBC News sent only to managers across the public service, said workers could adjust their hours with an earlier start or a late finish, or use a vacation day, to avoid the anticipated crowds on roads and transit. 

In subsequent statements to media, the government said there would be some allowance for civil servants to work from home on FIFA game days. Managers “can approve ad hoc, occasional or temporary remote work requests to provide short-term flexibility,” the government said.

Bulmer said the rigid interpretation of the policy, and then confusing communication of exemptions, is creating problems. 

“Beyond this just being about the disruption of FIFA, we’re trying, from a union perspective, to demonstrate that there are cyclical things that come up,” he said. “Having a blanket policy against remote work just doesn’t make sense in an urban centre like Toronto.”

“There’s always going to be considerations that should be taken into account,” he added.

Return-to-office policy ‘makes no sense’: OPSEU president

The president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), the union that represents roughly half of the Ontario Public Service workforce, welcomed Bethlenfalvy’s statement, but stressed that the policy has been “ill thought-out” from conception.

“It continues to make no sense, of course. Flexible work arrangements need to exist in the Ontario Public Service, because they have existed since the pandemic,” JP Hornick said.

Bulmer said the confusion over FIFA is just the latest stumble when it comes to executing the policy. That union’s members continue to tell him that they are faced with space constraints because the government has not leased new space for their full-time return.

The government maintains there are few space constraint problems and it largely has enough office space to accommodate returning workers.

“You have multiple people sharing a boardroom, there’s absolutely no privacy, no suitable space,” Bulmer said. “Lots of the buildings are in states of disrepair.”

Approximately 5,000 AMAPCEO members have requested alternative work arrangements, allowing them to work from home. Around 250 workers have received responses approximately eight months after filing the requests, and the majority have been rejected, he said.

“I represent people who are knowledge workers, who think their way through their day, and this is not logical. This does not make sense,” he said. “So, you can imagine that’s discouraging and demoralizing.”