Employer Obligations When the Oil Field Shuts Down

Working in isolated places has its risks. What happens when your employer shuts down? If your contract doesn’t specify what obligations the employer has, are they ethically obligated to help you find your way home? >>

Laid-off Alberta oil field workers stranded, told to find their own way home

More than two dozen laid off oil field workers are finally on their way home after being stranded for days at a remote worksite in northern Alberta.
CTV News has learned that about 25 employees at an isolated Canadian Natural Resources Limited’s (CNRL) Horizon site located about 160 kilometres north of Fort McMurray were left waiting for chartered buses after getting laid off Tuesday evening. Their contractor, Pacer Promec Energy Corporation (PPEC), told employees that the company had gone into receivership.
Workers were waiting for buses to transport them to a private CNRL airstrip for chartered flights home. However, the buses never showed up and the workers were told to find their own way home despite travel to and from the worksite being covered in their contracts, a worker who did not want to be identified told CTV News.