3 things Simu Liu should have been aware of when fired by Deloitte

Simu Liu thanks company for firing him

Canadian actor Simu Liu announced on Instagram that he is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of being fired from Deloitte. The former accountant-turned-Marvel hero explained how, on April 12, 2012, he was called into the managing partner’s office and told that he was losing his job, effectively immediately. He was then escorted out of the Toronto office by a security guard.

“I fought back tears of humiliation, grabbed my things, and never looked back,” the caption by the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star reads.

Liu says that at the time he lost his job he felt like his life was over, but he now realizes that he “owes his life to being let go from a career he hated.”

“To Paul Gibbon and the offices of Deloitte Toronto; sincerely, honestly, THANK YOU,” Liu wrote. “You did for me what I never had the courage to do myself; you destroyed a life that I was building for someone else, so that I could finally begin to build a life for me.”

Rights during the termination process

While there are no specific details about why Liu was laid off, we do hope that the Juno Awards host remembered three key facts about his employment rights during the termination process.

1. You can be fired for almost any reason, as long as you get severance

Perhaps Liu was let go because he made a mistake on the job, or a manager felt that he wasn’t the “right fit” at Deloitte. Maybe the company was restructuring and no longer had a role for him. Whatever the case may be, Deloitte had the ability to end Liu’s employment.

An employer can fire an employee for any reason, or without cause, as long as:

• The termination isn’t for discriminatory reasons, such as the worker’s age, ethnicity or gender; and
• The individual receives full severance pay.

2. Your employer doesn’t determine the amount of severance you are owed

In 2021, Liu claimed that his severance was $3,000, or one month’s pay. The actor also tweeted that he spent $1,200 of that on a professional portfolio shoot.

Many people believe that their employer has the sole right to determine how much their severance package should contain. Surely they understand the ins and outs of employment law, and how much (or little) you should be paid? When you’re experiencing the stress of being fired, it’s easy to think that the business will pay you what you deserve when it comes to compensation.

The truth is that a company does not get to decide the value of an employee’s severance package; our laws establish the proper amount.

A complete severance package is determined using multiple factors, including an employee’s age, length of service, position at the company, and what their employment contract says. The amount of compensation you are entitled to receive can be as much as 24 months’ pay. A wrongful dismissal materializes when an employer doesn’t offer enough severance, which happens quite often in Canada.

The employment lawyers at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP understand the laws that form the basis of severance pay. We used these rules and guidelines to create the free and anonymous Severance Pay Calculator. The interactive tool has been used by nearly 2 million Canadians to find out how much severance they are owed.

3. You do not have to accept a severance offer on the spot or by a deadline

Simu Liu’s severance package likely included a specific deadline to sign back by. Many employers suggest that you will lose your right to severance pay if you fail to accept an offer within a certain period of time, or before you leave the termination meeting. That is simply a pressure tactic companies use to get people to sign lowball severance offers.

LEARN MORE
• What should I do at a termination meeting?
• Global News: Do you lose severance if you don’t sign by the company’s deadline?

WATCH: Employment lawyer Lior Samfiru discussed severance offer deadlines on an episode of the Employment Law Show.

Non-unionized employees have two years from the moment they lose their job to file a claim for proper severance. An employer-imposed deadline of any number of days does not override that right. Once you sign off on a severance package, however, you waive your right to secure fair compensation through an employment lawyer.

While Liu is well past the point where he can take action, anyone who was let go within the last two years should contact the team at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP as soon as possible to find out what their rights are. Once you sign that severance offer you can’t take it back – it will be too late to get help from an employment lawyer.

Talk to our team today. Tens of thousands of Canadians have relied on us to get the advice they need, the compensation they deserve.