WRONGFUL DISMISSAL OR TERMINATION WITHOUT NOTICE
When people are terminated from their employment, they often think that they are entitled to nothing more than the one week of pay for each year of service, which the Ontario Employment Standards Act allows to them. In fact, they are entitled to much more. Courts are willing to give people who have been wrongfully dismissed what is called “damages in lieu of notice.” Basically, the court decides how much notice the person should have received before being terminated and then makes an award equal to the pay they would have received during that notice period.
For example, if a person had worked for a company for 12 years, a court might decide that a reasonable notice period was 9 months. The court then calculates how much the person would have earned during the 9 months from the date of dismissal, less any monies earned by way of a new job obtained during that notice period. As a rough guide, it might be said that a court is willing to award one month for each year of service, which is far in excess of the one week for each year of service that a person is guaranteed by the Employment Standards Act.
There is no hard and fast rule as to how much notice a court will award. This is because courts like to retain flexibility and tailor the award to each specific case, using such factors such as the age of the person, the position held, the years of service and any other information which a court might think are relevant in a specific case.
LAYOFFS
A layoff of an unreasonable duration will be considered as a dismissal in law so that the employee will be entitled to sue for damages based on their years of service with the company and other factors. In many employment situations layoffs are not part of the employment contract and constitute wrongful dismissal.
THE DUTY TO MITIGATE
When a person is dismissed, they have a duty to mitigate their damages, which means that they must make efforts to ensure that their loss is minimized as much as possible.
This is done by taking positive steps to obtain new employment as soon as possible. For this purpose, a person should keep a written record of every prospective employer they contact and every résumé they send out and all other steps they take toward replacing their former income, such as looking in the want ads and newspapers, going to the unemployment office, contacting an employment agency, going online, etc.
BONUSES, OVERTIME, AND BENEFITS
In calculating the amount of money that an employee would be entitled to, a court will base it on the employee’s total income before dismissal, include bonuses earned as well as overtime pay if it is satisfied that such items were regularly part of the employee’s remuneration. If the employee had a health benefits package and if the employee incurs out of pocket expenses during the notice period for a trip to the dentist, then the employee will be entitled to receive reimbursement for that expense to the extent that it would have been covered by the health benefits package.
SEVERANCE PACKAGES
It is not uncommon for employers to offer a settlement by way of a severance package so that the terminated employee receives a lump sum, or payments, to compensate them for the loss of their employment. Generally, when the economy is good these severance packages tend to be generous, and when the economy is bad the severance packages tend to be poor.
It is standard for the employer to require the former employee to sign a release. Some releases contain restrictive covenants or non-competition clauses, which prohibit the former employee from working in the same industry or in the geographical area for a set period of time. These really don’t belong in a release. Such restrictions are usually unfair, and courts will not be inclined to enforce them unless they are fairly brief in duration and reasonable enough to allow the former employee to continue to earn a livelihood.
TERMINATION FOR CAUSE
An employer does not need a reason to terminate an employee. Employers are free to do so for economic reasons or any other reason, other than one that would be considered a human rights violation, such as termination based on race or gender or disability. It is clear that when an employer terminates an employee, the employee is entitled to damages in lieu of notice. However, where an employer terminates an employee for cause, that is because the employee has engaged in some sort of misconduct in the workplace, then the employer will not be obligated in law to pay the employee any sort of severance. For example, theft from the employer will almost always constitute grounds for termination for cause. Numerous other types of conduct can also constitute grounds for termination for cause, depending on the severity of the circumstances and the impact of the behaviour on the employment relationship.