I recently spoke with a man who wasn’t happy in his job.
He had decided that he wanted to leave, but he was being sensible about it. He didn’t want to quit and suddenly find himself unemployed.
So he stayed at work, did his job and started looking elsewhere.
He applied for other positions. He went to interviews. His plan was simple: find another job first, then resign.
There was just one problem.
His employer found out.
His employer fired him for looking elsewhere
His boss confronted him about the job search.
It became an uncomfortable conversation. The employer was upset that, after everything the company had supposedly done for him, he was interviewing with other organizations.
By the end of that conversation, he was fired.
Then came the letter.
The company told him that his job search amounted to misconduct and that he was being terminated for cause.
No severance.
Nothing.
Understandably, he called my employment law team at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, worried that he had done something wrong.
Had he broken the law by interviewing for another job? Was his employer really allowed to fire him without severance simply because he was thinking about leaving?
The answer was no.
Looking for another job is not cause for dismissal
Your employer may not like the fact that you are looking for another job.
They may be disappointed. They may even feel betrayed.
But an employer being upset does not suddenly turn your job search into serious workplace misconduct.
Employees are allowed to consider other opportunities. They are allowed to apply for jobs and attend interviews on their own time.
And simply looking for another job does not give an employer the right to fire you for cause and take away your severance.
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The employer could have decided that it no longer wanted this gentleman working there and terminated him without cause.
But if it did that, it had to provide him with the appropriate severance.
And that’s where this employer made a very expensive decision.
READ MORE: Employer fired you ‘for cause’ in Ontario? 4 things you must do
Instead of waiting for him to quit, his employer could owe nine months’ pay
This gentleman had worked for the company for more than six years.
Based on his circumstances, his severance could be worth approximately nine months of pay.
Not nine weeks.
Nine months.
Think about what happened here.
This employee was actively looking for another job. Had his employer done nothing, there was a very good chance he would have found another position and resigned shortly afterwards.
Instead, his employer became angry, fired him and tried to characterize the situation as cause.
Now, rather than receiving a resignation, the company could be responsible for roughly nine months of severance.
That is a very expensive reaction to an employee looking for another job.
READ MORE: Employer refuses to provide severance pay in Ontario? 3 things you must do
Firing someone for cause is extremely difficult
I have said this many times: it is very difficult to fire an employee for cause.
Cause is sometimes described as the “capital punishment” of employment law because the consequences for the employee are so serious.
When an employer successfully establishes cause, the employee can lose their entitlement to termination pay and potentially significant severance pay.
That is why poor performance, a mistake, an argument with a manager or another relatively minor workplace issue does not automatically amount to cause.
The misconduct usually has to be extremely serious, or there has to be a significant history of problems that the employer has properly addressed and documented.
Simply writing the words “termination for cause” in a letter does not make the termination legal.
READ MORE: Six common employer mistakes that could lead to a bigger payout after termination
There is an important exception when you are job hunting
There is one part of this story that employees should be careful about.
Looking for another job is fine.
Looking for another job instead of doing the work your employer is paying you to do is different.
If you spend significant portions of your workday sending resumés, taking calls with recruiters or conducting interviews when you are supposed to be working, your employer can legitimately have a problem with that.
You are being paid to work.
That does not mean you can never check a job posting or speak to a recruiter. But use common sense.
Conduct your job search on your own time. Apply after work. Schedule interviews outside working hours where possible or use your lunch break or approved time off.
If you continue doing your job properly, your employer cannot simply turn your interest in another opportunity into serious misconduct.
READ MORE: Fired in Ontario for taking on a side gig? 4 things employees must do
Don’t assume “for cause” means no severance
This gentleman thought that because his termination letter said “for cause,” he had lost his severance.
He hadn’t.
That is the important lesson.
Your employer does not get the final word on whether you are entitled to severance.
If you are fired for cause, especially for something that does not seem particularly serious, do not simply accept the company’s decision.
Have the circumstances reviewed by an employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP before assuming that you are entitled to nothing.
In this case, an employee who was expecting to leave voluntarily may instead be owed approximately nine months of pay.
Sometimes the most expensive mistake in a termination isn’t made by the employee.
It’s made by the employer.
