An employment contract lawyer in Ottawa reviews, explains and negotiates employment agreements before you sign them and determines how those terms affect your rights if your job changes or ends.

An employment contract can affect much more than your salary and vacation. It can limit severance, control bonuses and commissions, establish probation, address temporary layoffs, give your employer flexibility to change parts of your job and restrict what you can do after leaving.

Ontario’s Employment Standards Act (ESA) creates minimum rights that an employment agreement can’t take away. But a properly drafted contract can still reduce important common-law rights you would otherwise have, particularly your compensation when employment ends.

Don’t sign first and find out what the agreement means later. The employment lawyers at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP can review a new job offer, a replacement agreement from your current employer or a contract your employer is relying on after termination.

⚠️ Don’t assume an employment agreement is harmless because your salary, title and vacation look right. Termination, bonus, layoff and post-employment clauses can have financial consequences that only become obvious when your employment changes or ends.

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When Should You Call an Employment Contract Lawyer in Ottawa?

Speak with an employment contract lawyer before signing an agreement that can materially affect your compensation, severance, job security or ability to work elsewhere.

A contract review is especially useful when:

  • You have received a new job offer
  • Your current employer wants you to sign a new or replacement agreement
  • A promotion or raise comes with a revised employment contract
  • The agreement contains a termination clause limiting severance
  • Bonuses, commissions, stock options or equity are an important part of your compensation
  • You are moving into a management or executive position
  • The employer wants broad authority to change your duties, schedule or work location
  • You are being asked to accept a probation period
  • The agreement contains a non-solicitation or non-compete provision
  • You have already been fired and your employer says the contract limits what you are owed

For the underlying legal rules, read our guide to employment contracts in Ontario.

💡 Contract review is most valuable while you still have a choice. Before signing, you can understand the risk and negotiate. After signing, the question often becomes whether your employer can legally enforce the term you already accepted.

What Does an Ottawa Employment Contract Lawyer Review?

An employment contract lawyer identifies the terms that create meaningful financial or career consequences and explains what they mean before you agree to them.

At Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, an employment contract review can address:

  • Salary and compensation: Base salary, commissions, bonuses, allowances, incentive plans and equity
  • Termination clauses: What you receive when employment ends and whether the agreement limits common-law severance
  • Probation: Whether probation applies and what happens if your employment ends during that period
  • Job duties and status: How much flexibility the employer has to change your title, responsibilities or reporting structure
  • Hours and work location: Whether your schedule, office location or remote-work arrangement can be changed
  • Temporary layoffs: Whether the contract gives the employer contractual authority to temporarily lay you off
  • Bonuses and commissions: When compensation is earned and what happens if employment ends before payment
  • Fixed-term employment: What happens if an agreement with a stated end date is terminated early
  • Post-employment restrictions: Non-solicitation, non-compete, confidentiality and related obligations
  • Resignation: How much contractual notice you are expected to provide if you leave

The purpose of a legal review isn’t to object to every paragraph. It is to identify the provisions that actually change your legal or financial position.

Should a Lawyer Review Your Job Offer Before You Sign?

Yes, especially when the agreement limits severance, contains restrictive terms or governs significant bonus, commission or equity compensation.

Most employees naturally focus on salary, title, vacation and benefits. Those terms matter. But some of the most financially important provisions in an employment agreement only become relevant when the relationship ends.

A termination clause that seems unimportant on your first day can eventually determine whether you receive statutory minimum compensation or substantially greater common-law severance.

Can a lawyer negotiate your employment contract?

Yes. An employment lawyer can identify the terms worth negotiating and help you propose practical changes before accepting the position.

Negotiations can address:

  • Guaranteed termination or severance protection
  • Salary
  • Signing bonuses
  • Bonus and commission terms
  • Equity or stock options
  • Vacation
  • Remote or hybrid work
  • Work location
  • Probation
  • Post-employment restrictions

Not every clause needs to become a negotiation. A useful review helps you focus on the provisions that create meaningful risk rather than turning every sentence into an obstacle to accepting a good opportunity.

Should you resign from your current job before the new contract is final?

Don’t resign from secure employment until you understand the complete offer you are accepting.

If a prospective employer says a detailed contract will follow later, ask to see it before leaving your current position. Review any conditions attached to the offer as well, including references, background checks and other requirements that must be satisfied before the new employment is secure.

⚠️ Don’t leave one job based only on a verbal offer or short offer letter if significant employment terms are still coming. Review the complete agreement before making an irreversible career move.

What If Your Current Employer Asks You to Sign a New Contract?

Don’t sign a replacement employment contract until you understand what existing rights it changes and what you are receiving in return.

A long-serving employee can already have valuable rights that aren’t obvious from the original paperwork. A replacement agreement can attempt to reduce those rights by adding an ESA-only termination clause, temporary-layoff provision, broader job-change language or new post-employment restrictions.

A new agreement introduced after employment has already started can also raise enforceability issues if it adds material restrictions without providing the employee with something new of legal value in return. Ontario Court of Appeal law recognizes this requirement for fresh consideration when new contractual terms are introduced after an employment relationship has already been formed.

What can count as fresh consideration?

Fresh consideration means something new of value rather than simply receiving what your employer was already required to provide.

A new raise, bonus, promotion or another benefit can be relevant. Whether it supports the new agreement depends on what was promised, when the contract was formed and what new restrictions you are being asked to accept.

⚠️ A promotion or raise can come with a contract that reduces your future severance. Don’t focus only on what the employer is giving you today. Review what the new agreement takes away if your employment ends later.

What if you refuse to sign the new agreement?

Refusing to sign a proposed replacement contract does not mean you have resigned.

Your employer then has to decide how it wants to proceed. It can continue the existing employment relationship, propose different terms or decide to terminate employment in accordance with the law.

Don’t resign because you disagree with a proposed contract. Have your current agreement, the proposed replacement and any instructions from your employer reviewed first.

How Can a Termination Clause Affect Your Severance?

An enforceable termination clause can substantially reduce the compensation you receive when your employer terminates your employment.

Without an enforceable contractual limit, many non-unionized Ontario employees have common-law reasonable-notice rights. Those rights can provide substantially more compensation than Ontario’s statutory minimums.

A properly drafted agreement can limit those greater common-law rights, but it can’t provide less than the ESA requires.

Read our current guide to enforceable termination clauses in Ontario.

💡 2026 update: Don’t rely on old advice saying that “at any time” automatically invalidates an Ontario termination clause. The Ontario Court of Appeal has rejected that position. The clause must be read as a whole to determine whether it actually contracts out of the ESA or validly preserves the employee’s minimum statutory rights.

The Ontario Court of Appeal clarified this issue in August 2026, rejecting the position that phrases such as “at any time” automatically make a termination provision unenforceable.

What if you’ve already been fired?

Have the employment contract reviewed again before accepting your employer’s severance calculation.

Signing an agreement does not prove that every termination provision is enforceable. If the clause validly limits your rights, it can affect what you receive. If it doesn’t, common-law reasonable notice can apply instead.

Depending on factors such as your age, position, length of service and the availability of comparable employment, severance can reach 24 months’ pay in appropriate cases.

Learn more about severance pay in Ontario. If you already have a termination package, our Ottawa severance pay lawyers can review the compensation before you sign.

⚠️ Don’t sign a termination release because your employer says the contract limits you to ESA minimums. Have both the employment agreement and severance package reviewed first. Once you sign a release, you usually can’t go back and claim additional compensation.

What Other Employment Contract Terms Should You Review?

Review any provision that can affect your compensation, job security or ability to earn a living after leaving the employer.

Non-compete clauses

Ontario prohibits employers from entering into most new non-compete agreements with employees, subject to specific statutory exceptions. Ontario’s ESA includes exceptions for certain executives and qualifying agreements connected to the sale of a business.

If an agreement tries to prevent you from working for a competitor after you leave, read our guide to non-compete clauses in Ontario.

Non-solicitation clauses

Ontario’s statutory non-compete prohibition does not itself prohibit non-solicitation agreements. These clauses can restrict how you approach former clients, customers or coworkers after leaving, so their wording deserves careful review.

Learn more about non-solicitation clauses in Ontario.

Probation clauses

There is no automatic probation period in Ontario. A probation period must be clearly established in your employment contract.

If your offer says you will be on probation, review how long the period lasts and what the agreement says about termination during that time. See our guide to the probation period in Ontario.

Bonuses, commissions and equity

Variable compensation deserves careful review when it forms an important part of your income.

Check when a bonus or commission becomes earned, what happens if employment ends before the payment date and how stock options, restricted shares or other equity are treated after termination.

What if you work for a federally regulated employer in Ottawa?

Don’t assume Ontario’s ESA governs your contract simply because you work in Ottawa.

Employees of banks, telecommunications companies, airlines, interprovincial transportation businesses and other federally regulated employers can be governed by federal employment legislation instead of Ontario’s ESA.

That can affect how termination, statutory notice and other employment rights are assessed. Tell your lawyer what organization you work for so the contract is reviewed under the correct legal framework.

Why Choose Samfiru Tumarkin LLP for an Employment Contract Review in Ottawa?

Samfiru Tumarkin LLP’s Ottawa employment lawyers review contracts from the employee’s perspective: what you are receiving, what rights you are giving up and what the agreement means if the relationship eventually ends.

Our employment law team can help you:

  • Understand an employment agreement in plain English
  • Identify clauses that create meaningful financial or career risk
  • Review termination provisions under current Ontario law
  • Negotiate important terms before accepting a position
  • Assess replacement contracts introduced during existing employment
  • Review whether new contractual restrictions are properly supported
  • Assess bonus, commission and equity provisions
  • Review non-solicitation and other post-employment restrictions
  • Determine whether an employer can rely on the contract after termination

Samfiru Tumarkin LLP has an Ottawa office at 116 Albert Street, Suite 300 and serves employees throughout Ottawa, including Kanata, Nepean, Orleans, Barrhaven, Stittsville and surrounding communities.

For broader workplace issues, visit our Ottawa employment lawyers.

What should you send for a contract review?

Send the complete agreement and any separate documents that form part of your employment terms or compensation.

Useful documents include:

  • The employment agreement or job offer
  • Previous contracts with the same employer
  • Bonus or commission plans
  • Stock-option or equity documents
  • Promotion or compensation letters
  • Confidentiality or restrictive-covenant agreements
  • Emails explaining why a replacement contract must be signed
  • A termination letter and severance package if your employment has already ended
⚠️ Unionized? Your employment terms and workplace disputes must be addressed through your union and the grievance process. Samfiru Tumarkin LLP’s employment law team can’t assist with unionized workplace disputes.

An employment contract can affect your income, job security, future career options and the compensation you receive when your employment ends. Reviewing it before you sign gives you the best opportunity to understand and negotiate those consequences.

The Ottawa employment lawyers at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP help non-unionized employees review and negotiate job offers, assess replacement contracts introduced during employment and determine whether employers can rely on contractual restrictions after termination.

Before you resign from another job, sign a new employment agreement, accept a replacement contract or agree that a termination clause limits your severance, contact Samfiru Tumarkin LLP and have the contract reviewed.

Review Your Employment Contract Before You Sign

Samfiru Tumarkin LLP can identify terms that affect your severance, compensation and future career before you commit to the agreement.

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