I work for a not for profit that aims for the eradication of certain invasive plant in Ontario. My boss has called me outside of work hours numerous times (including while I was on vacation) but on Sunday, he called again with information that was about jobs that were over a week away so I asked him to “try to only contact me during work hours”. Today I had to have a meeting with him to discuss this as he felt that “that’s not how it works in this industry”. I explained how boundaries between work and personal life are important and that if he could simply email me with information that wasn’t crucial for me to know immediately rather than calling me outside of work hours, I’d appreciate it and that if it was an emergency, he could call but I would prefer if he texted or waited for the next morning/work day.
This turned into two of my bosses making me feel like a bad worker and turning everything around on me, pointing out that this has never been an issue in their company and that they call people whenever for work reasons on a regular basis. The issue is that we are classified as “landscapers” so majority of rules like receiving overtime or holiday pay or the three hour rule don’t apply.
How do I express to them that my own time is important and needs to be respected? Do I have any recourse or are they fully within their rights to call me when they feel like it without paying me since I’m classified as a landscaper? TIA