As an employment lawyer, I’ve heard a lot of misconceptions about workplace rights when non-unionized employees are fired in Canada.
Despite my firm’s ongoing educational initiatives on radio and television, as well as through our livestreams we still receive questions from people seeking a second — and correct — opinion after initially relying on their friends, family and colleagues for legal advice.
Here are five things most people are missing the mark on when it comes to employment rights at termination for non-unionized employees in Canada.
1. People think their employer needs a good or honest reason to fire them
Despite popular belief, your boss does not need a good reason to end your employment.
Your employer can claim they dismissed you because of a lack of work, even though you know that they filled your position with somebody else. Perhaps your manager said they had to fire you due to restructuring, when you’re convinced it was linked to a mistake you made on the job last week.
An employer can fire an employee for practically any reason. This could be a desire to hire somebody with a lower salary, because you were late for work one time or even because you wore the wrong colour shirt to work.
READ MORE: Fired for no reason? Employment lawyer explains why your employer can do that
The exception is when the reason involves any form of discrimination, such as the worker’s age, gender or medical condition.
If you believe you were let go due to one or more of those situations, which are protected under human rights legislation, you can talk to an employment lawyer, like the ones at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, to find out if you are owed additional damages.
2. People believe they don’t get severance when fired for cause
Employers will sometimes insist a termination is for cause. They will tell the unfortunate employee that they lost their job due to something they did, and that because of their behavior, they are not entitled to a severance package or employment insurance (EI). Many people will accept this decision without considering if their employer’s position is correct.
In my experience, companies often misuse this type of dismissal, either to avoid paying appropriate severance or because they think they actually have enough evidence to argue a for cause termination.
The bar for establishing a firing for cause, however, is extremely high, and accidents, mistakes, poorly chosen social media posts or even ongoing performance issues are not enough to qualify. A termination for cause is reserved for the worst offenders in a workplace — think those who have committed insubordination or theft.
That is why, with an employment lawyer’s help, many employees supposedly fired for cause are able to successfully argue that they were in fact let go without cause, and are owed full severance pay, as well as access to EI.
READ MORE: Partying on the job site, criticizing mask-wearing: Reasons to fire employees for cause or not?
3. People think they should go to the government for help when they’ve been fired
Your friends, family or even the employer that fired you may suggest you check the company’s severance offer with the appropriate government organization that oversees employment in your province to ensure that it is fair.
The problem with this route is that the government can only guarantee the minimum amount of compensation you are entitled to when you lose your job, not the full amount that can be obtained through an employment lawyer. Provincially legislated severance tends to be a few weeks’ pay, while a lawyer can secure many months of compensation depending on an employee’s circumstances.
In some jurisdictions, working with the government to get severance pay can mean that you give up your right to pursue severance through a legal claim.
4. People believe that severance is based on what their employer wants to pay
Despite what your employer may tell you, they are not the sole arbiters of how much severance pay you are owed. Our laws and decades of key court decisions establish the amount of compensation you should receive.
Things like your age, type of job, salary and ability to find new work form the core factors in a severance package, whether you are a provincially or federally regulated non-unionized worker. The end result could be a severance package that totals as much as 24 months’ pay. If your employer doesn’t give you the correct amount of pay, our legal system considers you to have been wrongfully dismissed.
I created an online Severance Pay Calculator tool so that people could get a quick understanding of how much money they might be looking at when they lose their job.
READ MORE: Think you may lose your job? 5 quick facts about the termination process
5. People think they have to sign termination papers on the spot
Getting fired can be a shocking experience, especially if you didn’t anticipate it.
The good news is that you don’t have to make any decisions or sign any documents during or immediately after the layoff meeting. You are allowed to review all paperwork after the meeting to confirm that your employment rights have not been negatively affected.
If the company provides you with a severance offer that carries a one-, two- or even five-day sign-back deadline, know that you do not have to adhere to this time limit. You have exactly two years from the day you are fired to file a claim for the right compensation with an employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP.
Have you lost your job? Are you unsure about how to properly navigate the termination?
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.