Inducement in employment law happens when an employer recruits or persuades you to leave secure employment to accept a new job.
If that employer later fires you, the recruitment can matter when your severance is calculated. An employee who gave up a secure, long-term job because of the new employer’s efforts can be owed more severance than their short service with the new company might suggest.
If you were recruited and then terminated, don’t let your employer calculate your severance based only on the months or years you spent with the new company. The job you gave up and how you were recruited can also matter.
On This Page:
- 1. What Inducement Means
- 2. Examples of Inducement
- 3. How Inducement Affects Severance
- 4. How to Prove Inducement
- 5. Employment Contracts & Inducement
- 6. What to Do If You Are Terminated
What Is Inducement in Employment Law?
Inducement occurs when a new employer takes meaningful steps to convince you to leave your existing employment and join its organization.
The clearest example is an employer or recruiter approaching someone who is already securely employed and repeatedly encouraging them to make the move.
Inducement does not require threats, pressure or dishonesty. A company can induce you through positive recruitment.
For example, the employer might offer:
- A better salary
- A more senior position
- Promises of career growth
- Assurances about long-term employment
- A signing bonus
- Better benefits or working conditions
- Relocation assistance
What matters is the full recruitment history and whether the new employer played a meaningful role in your decision to leave secure employment.
Is accepting a better job offer automatically inducement?
No. Simply choosing to apply for and accept another job does not automatically amount to inducement.
There is an important difference between finding a new job yourself and being actively recruited away from an existing position.
If you applied to a public job posting and decided on your own to leave your employer, there might be little or no inducement.
If a recruiter repeatedly contacted you while you were happily employed and persuaded you to leave a secure 15-year position, the argument is much stronger.
What Are Examples of Inducement?
Inducement often involves active recruitment plus something that gives the employee confidence to leave a secure job.
Example 1: Recruited from a long-term job
Example: You have worked for the same company for 12 years. A competitor contacts you several times, offers a higher salary and convinces you to join its team.
Eight months later, the new employer eliminates your position.
Answer: Your severance should not necessarily be assessed as though you were an ordinary eight-month employee. The fact that the company recruited you away from 12 years of secure employment can increase your reasonable notice.
Example 2: Promised long-term opportunity
Example: You tell a recruiter that you are reluctant to leave your current job because it is stable. The new employer assures you that the position is a long-term opportunity and encourages you to make the move.
You accept and are terminated several months later.
Answer: Those discussions can support an inducement argument, especially if they played an important role in your decision to leave.
Example 3: You applied for the job yourself
Example: You see a job posting, apply without being approached and voluntarily leave your current employer after receiving an offer.
Answer: That is much less likely to be inducement. Choosing to change jobs is not enough by itself.
How Does Inducement Affect Severance Pay?
Inducement can increase the amount of common-law severance an employee receives after termination.
Normally, length of service with your current employer is one factor used to calculate reasonable notice. This can make a newly hired employee look like a short-service employee.
Inducement changes that analysis.
If the employer persuaded you to give up secure employment, a court can consider:
- How secure your previous employment was
- How long you had worked there
- How actively the new employer recruited you
- Promises or assurances made during recruitment
- What you gave up to accept the new position
- How long you worked for the new employer before termination
The result can be a significantly longer notice period than the employee’s short service with the new employer would otherwise suggest.
Does your new employer automatically inherit all your previous years of service?
No. Inducement does not automatically transfer every year of previous service to your new employer.
Your previous service and the security you gave up are important factors, but severance is still assessed based on the full circumstances.
That distinction matters. An employee recruited after 20 years with another company can receive substantially more severance than an ordinary new hire without the law simply pretending that the employee worked 20 years for the new employer.
How much severance can you get after inducement?
There is no fixed inducement formula. The recruitment circumstances are considered together with the other factors that determine common-law reasonable notice.
Those factors include your age, position, length of service and the availability of similar employment.
If you are terminated, don’t sign a release before having your full severance package reviewed—you may be owed as much as 24 months’ pay.
How Do You Prove Inducement?
You prove inducement with evidence showing how the new employer recruited you and why you agreed to leave your existing job.
Keep:
- Recruiter emails and LinkedIn messages
- Text messages
- Job offers and offer letters
- Emails discussing job security or long-term plans
- Messages showing repeated recruitment attempts
- Documents showing your previous length of service
- Information about compensation or benefits you gave up
- Relocation discussions or expenses
You should also write down important verbal conversations while you still remember them clearly.
What if nothing was promised in writing?
You can still have an inducement argument without a written promise of guaranteed employment.
The entire recruitment history matters. Emails and messages are helpful, but the absence of a sentence saying “we guarantee your job” does not automatically end the issue.
Can an Employment Contract Limit Inducement Severance?
Yes. An enforceable employment contract can limit the severance rights that would otherwise arise at common law.
That is why the contract you sign when changing jobs matters so much.
A company can recruit you away from secure employment and then present a contract containing a termination clause that limits what you receive if the new job ends.
If that clause is enforceable, it can significantly reduce the value of an inducement argument.
Before leaving a secure position, have the new agreement reviewed. Our guide to employment contract review explains the clauses that deserve the most attention.
Should the contract recognize your previous service?
If you are leaving long-term employment, try to address termination protection before you make the move.
Depending on your bargaining position, you can negotiate terms such as:
- Recognition of previous service for termination purposes
- A guaranteed minimum severance package
- Removal or improvement of a restrictive termination clause
- Protection if the job ends during the first year or two
Those protections are much easier to negotiate before you resign from your current job.
What Should You Do If You Were Recruited and Then Fired?
Tell the lawyer reviewing your severance that you were recruited from another job. Don’t let the analysis begin and end with your short service at the new company.
- Don’t sign the severance offer. The employer’s first calculation might not account for inducement.
- Save the recruitment evidence. Keep emails, texts, LinkedIn messages and offer documents.
- Document your old job. Record how long you worked there, your role, pay and why the position was secure.
- Find your new employment contract. The termination clause can affect your rights.
- Have your full severance calculated. Make sure inducement and your other common-law factors are included.
If the new employer does not provide your full termination compensation, you can also have a wrongful dismissal claim.
Does inducement matter if you are fired during probation?
It can, but the employment contract must be reviewed first.
Don’t assume that being called “probationary” automatically means you are owed nothing after leaving secure employment to take the new job.
Our guide to probation periods in Canada explains why a probationary label does not erase every termination right.
What if the new employer changes the job after you arrive?
Don’t resign immediately if the job you were recruited for suddenly changes.
A major pay cut, demotion or substantial change to your duties can amount to constructive dismissal.
The recruitment history can also be important when assessing what you were promised and what employment you agreed to accept.
Inducement Employment Law FAQs
Does a recruiter contacting you automatically prove inducement?
No. One recruiter message does not automatically establish inducement. The full recruitment process and the role it played in your decision to leave secure employment matter.
Does inducement guarantee more severance?
No. Inducement is an important factor, not an automatic severance formula. Its effect depends on the strength of the recruitment, the employment you gave up, your contract and the other factors used to calculate reasonable notice.
Does inducement apply if you received a higher salary?
It can. A higher salary can be part of the package used to persuade you to leave your existing employer. Receiving better pay does not prevent the recruitment from being inducement.
Does inducement apply if you worked at the new company for several years?
It can, but the importance of the original inducement can decrease as the new employment relationship becomes longer and more established. The effect is strongest when an employee gives up secure employment and is terminated relatively soon after making the move.
Get Help With an Inducement & Severance Claim
A short time with your new employer does not always mean a small severance package—especially when that employer persuaded you to leave secure employment.
Samfiru Tumarkin LLP helps non-unionized employees prove inducement, challenge inadequate termination offers, review employment contracts and secure the full severance pay and compensation they are legally entitled to receive.
If you were recruited from another company and then fired, have the entire recruitment history and severance package reviewed by one of our employment lawyers before signing a release.