Employment Law

An employer dismisses an employee for a violation of company policy, refusing to provide severance pay as the employee was terminated for cause.

However, the employee may be entitled to severance pay if the employer did not provide appropriate warnings or progressive discipline.

An employee is subjected to harassment, ridicule, a toxic work environment or unilateral changes to her job description. The employee quits, and the employer refuses to provide compensation as the employee left of her own free will.

The employee may be entitled to severance pay in this situation. The creation of intolerable working conditions or unilateral changes to an employee’s job description can constitute constructive dismissal, which often calls for compensation in the same amount as if an employee had been terminated without cause.

An employment agreement is silent on the issue of severance pay. An employee of 20 years is dismissed, and the employer provides the employee the minimum compensation of 8 weeks’ wages under the Employment Standards Act.

Under the common law, the employee may be entitled to a higher degree of compensation than that provided by the Employment Standards Act. In certain circum- stances, the employee may be entitled to up to 24 months’ salary under the common law.

An employee begins employment without a written employment contract. Five years later, the employer requires the employee to sign a contract limiting severance pay to the statutory minimums under the Employment Standards Act. The employee signs the contract, fearing she will be fired if she does not.

Consideration is a required element in most contracts; this means each party must receive something in exchange for the good or service they are providing. The contract in this case may be invalid due to lack of consideration, and the employee may be entitled to severance pay under the common law up to 24 months’ salary.

An employee is dismissed after five years of employment. A costly mistake is made, and the employer assigns responsibility for that mistake to the employee. The employer publicly ridicules the employee for the mistake, firing him in front of his colleagues in a derogatory manner. The employer also warns other employers in the industry about the employee. The employee feels that his reputation has been ruined, and that he will never work in the industry again. The employer provides the employee what it calls a generous severance package of 12 months’ salary.

In this situation, the employee may be entitled to additional damages for the manner in which the dismissal was handled by the employer. In certain circumstances, these damages could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.