I receive hundreds of legal questions a week from Canadians experiencing stressful issues with their job or at various stages in the termination process.
Often, I’m able to help because they’ve come to the right place: an employment lawyer. Here are the top five things an employee should never do before speaking to an employment lawyer about their situation.
- Accept the initial severance offer
The most expensive mistake an employee can make is signing and returning a severance offer to their employer before it is reviewed by an employment lawyer. In my years of experience, over 90 per cent of severance packages offer a fraction of what an employee is truly owed. You can’t renegotiate a severance package once you have accepted it.
I was recently contacted by an individual who quickly signed off on the package he was handed during his termination meeting. After watching an episode of my firm’s Employment Law Show, he reached out to me to find out if he had been given enough compensation. He was struggling to find new work and had already spent the amount provided by his employer.
This person was elated to find out that he was entitled to tens of thousands of dollars more than that original offer. His joy turned to disappointment, though, when I informed him that he lost his ability to pursue additional compensation because he had accepted that initial offer.
Many employers place artificial deadlines on severance offers to pressure employees into signing before they can have the packages reviewed by a qualified employment lawyer. But you have two years from the date of your termination to file a claim for the full amount allowed by law.
READ MORE: 5 facts about severance pay you need to know, according to an employment lawyer
- Accept unwanted changes to your job
An employer doesn’t have a right to make serious changes to an employee’s job, including pay, duties or hours of work. These changes can trigger a form of termination called a constructive dismissal, resulting in a full severance package for the employee.
You may choose to accept a change to your job in favour of remaining employed. The downside of that decision is if you accept an unwanted change without speaking up, your employer may have the right to make those changes again — and you will no longer have any legal recourse. For example, if you accept a 15 per cent pay cut this month, your employer could potentially introduce another pay cut six months from now without resistance.
Talk to an employment lawyer, like the ones at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, before you accept any change that threatens to reshape your job in a negative way.
- Sign an employment contract without fully understanding the details
When you get a new job and are asked to sign an employment contract, it’s easy to skip the fine print and focus instead on salary, bonus and vacation time.
While those are important components of your job, you should not overlook other key terms. There are details in an employment contract that can cost you a substantial amount of money in the future if you don’t pay attention.
Those details include terms that can limit your severance pay, allow your employer to make crucial changes to your job without your consent or prevent you from starting a business after you leave the company. An employment lawyer can pore over a contract to determine how these clauses affect you and what changes need to be made.
READ MORE: What you need to know before you sign a contract — even if your employer asks you to
Many employees are surprised to find out that when it comes to employment agreements, you’re actually better off not having one at all.
- Stay silent after a negative performance review
Many employers will use negative performance reviews as an excuse to fire an employee for cause — and without severance pay. If you stay silent about a bad employee evaluation, your lack of objection can be interpreted as acceptance.
The best way to protect yourself is to send an email with a polite and professional rebuttal to the claims made about your performance. That way, if your employer tries to terminate you without a severance package, you can point to your email as evidence that you did not see their complaints as legitimate. An employment lawyer can help you write a response to a bad review, or even fight a termination for cause if it comes to that.
READ MORE: Does a performance improvement plan mean you’re getting fired? What employees need to know
- Rely solely on legal advice from friends and family
It’s important to speak to an employment lawyer directly instead of getting potentially inaccurate information from well-meaning friends and family, or the internet. You should also avoid taking your employer’s word on your workplace rights as gospel, as your personal interests do not necessarily align with theirs.
Relying on information that doesn’t come directly from an employment lawyer with unique experience with employment matters can mean missing out on important and lucrative entitlements.
That’s why my firm started the Employment Law Show on radio, and later TV, and hosts weekly livestreams: to help educate individuals about their employment rights.
If you have a specific question about your employment rights, seek out an experienced employment lawyer, like the ones at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP.
Experiencing issues at work? Not sure how to handle your employment matter?
Contact the firm or call 1-855-821-5900 to secure assistance from an employment lawyer in Ontario, Alberta or British Columbia. Get the advice you need — and the compensation you deserve.
Lior Samfiru is an employment lawyer and partner at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, Canada’s most positively reviewed law firm specializing in employment law and long-term disability claims. He provides free advice as the host of Canada’s only Employment Law Show on TV and radio.