Wrongful Dismissal Ontario FAQ A wrongful dismissal in Ontario is when an employee is terminated without enough “severance”*. What is severance? Employers have to provide advance warning to employees that their employment is going to be terminated otherwise it is a wrongful dismissal. However, employers can just pay employees money in lieu of advance warning of …

Ontario severance pay can mean one of three things: (1) “statutory Ontario severance pay”, (2) “common law Ontario severance pay” and (3) “severance pay according to your employment contract”. How much severance pay in Ontario am I entitled to? The amount of Ontario severance you are entitled to depends on which kind of severance applies …

Is Drinking at Work Just Cause for Termination? Employees can be terminated at any time for any reason so long as the employer provides notice. However, in certain situations employers can terminate employees without notice if they have “just cause” to terminate the employee. Thus, the question becomes, does drinking at work constitute “just cause”? …

Introduction Canadian startups should have an employment contract for all new hires. An employment contract helps both parties understand the employment relationship, protects the startup in the event of the termination of employees and it can also serve as a useful mechanism to attract good employees. A solid startup employment contract should contain all the …

Employers sometimes ask me – what is the maximum amount of notice we need to give long-standing employees upon termination? How Much Notice for Long-Term Employees Upon Termination? I used to tell them 24 months was the maximum notice an employee was entitled to upon termination. However, since the beginning of 2016, I now have …

As a result of the much blogged about changes made to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the “ESA”), which came into force in the new year, Ontario’s Ministry of Labour drafted a new poster entitled “Employment Standards in Ontario” (the “Poster”) reflecting these changes. What this Means for Employers All employers must replace their old …

Here is a list of the cases which changed employment law in Canada in 2017 (in no particular order). Note that some of these cases are not yet published on CanLII and therefore, there is no link available. Stewart v Elk Valley Coal Corp., 2017 SCC 30 The Supreme Court of Canada held that the termination …

Two recent Small Claims Court cases demonstrate the courts’ willingness to sanction employers for improper just cause allegations. These cases highlight the fact that employers need to be cautious in asserting just cause. If employers make a just cause allegation that they shouldn’t have, they could be on the hook for $10,000 in extra punitive …

It offends the Employment Standards Act Section 5 of the Employment Standards Act (“ESA”) prohibits employers from waiving or contracting out of any of the employment standards prescribed in the ESA, except to provide a greater benefit to the employee. Any such contracting out is void. Typically, the area of concern in an employment contract …

March 25 Update: In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian government has proposed legislation to establish a new kind of income replacement benefit called the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). The CERB will temporarily replace all new applications for Employment Insurance once it is in place. We don’t yet know if the CERB will require an …