Wrongful dismissal
The conclusion of the employment relationship is often difficult for both employers and employees as each tries to resolve the various legal rights and obligations associated with a termination. As a firm focusing exclusively on employment law, our lawyers have extensive experience in wrongful dismissal litigation and have appeared before all levels of the courts in Ontario.
Our managing partner, Daniel Lublin, has three recent wrongful dismissal court decisions, including a precedent setting case at the Ontario Court of Appeal.
Wrongful Dismissal for Non Union Employees Transcript
What is a wrongful dismissal?
A wrongful dismissal is when an employee has been terminated without clear notice or severance pay, or if an employee has received severance pay but simply hasn’t received enough of it.
Does the reason for termination matter?
In most cases the reason won’t matter as long as the employee receives enough severance pay. What’s often in dispute is whether or not the offer of severance is appropriate.
Do employees have a right to continued employment?
In Canada employees have no right to continued employment. Instead what employees get is a right to severance play if they’re loosing their jobs without misconduct.
What is a dismissal for cause?
A dismissal for cause is any serious form of misconduct. Examples often include theft, dishonesty, breach of trust or a conflict of interest. If there’s been a dismissal for cause the employee’s not entitled to severance pay at all.
Who determines whether there is cause for dismissal?
Ultimately that’s for the courts to decide but we know based on the courts decisions over time that it’s only going to be serious forms of misconduct that will amount for cause for dismissal.
What do you get if you’ve been wrongfully dismissed?
The whole point of a wrongful dismissal claim is to get compensation for lost wages and in some cases pain and suffering.
What is a severance packaged based on?
There is no rule of thumb but there is a commonly used test which says that the employee should receive compensation equal to the period of time that it should reasonably take them to find another job.
Are severance packages negotiable?
Absolutely. It’s a common misconception that employees should accept what they’ve been offered happy to get anything at all. We often find that employers don’t offer the best severance packages up front so it’s important for employees to hire a lawyer to make sure they get what’s fair.
What is the first thing an employee should do if they’ve been terminated?
It’s critical that you don’t say or sign anything and immediately call an employment lawyer to make sure you’ve been treated fairly.
Why is it important to have a lawyer if you think you’ve been wrongfully dismissed?
More often than not employers don’t provide the best severance packages to begin with. It’s only after an employee’s retained an employment lawyer that the employer will provide a package that’s fair.
