Lior Samfiru on Air Canada severance packages

Many Air Canada employees have felt the repercussions of the pandemic and fallen under hard times as a result of layoffs and waiting for updates from their employers. For some, this has meant unemployment since March 2020. What options do they have to pursue their rights? What are they entitled to in terms of compensation and benefits?

Lior Samfiru, a Toronto employment lawyer and co-founding Partner at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP spoke with the Toronto Star and offered tips for recently terminated Air Canada employees and their severance entitlements.

“Employees should always assume their severance package is inadequate and not sign it right away,” says Samfiru.  Samfiru continues to explain that there is no hard and fast rule to calculating severance.

“It’s based on your age, the length of your employment, and the type of position you held at the company. For example, if two people who had each worked at a company for ten years were both laid off, but one was significantly older or had held a position higher up on the management chain, that person would be offered more than the younger, less senior person,” Samfiru states.

LEARN MORE
Severance Pay in Ontario

It is also important to remember that severance should encompass all benefits. “Would I have gotten it had I continued working there over the severance period?” Samfiru says employees should ask themselves. “If the answer is yes, then that has to be included as part of the severance.”

Samfiru also comments on the clause concerning future employment possibilities and the impact it could have on severance pay. “It’s important to make sure the clause not only extends your benefits until you’re receiving benefits at your new job but also doesn’t cut off your pay entirely if your new job pays significantly less than your previous one,” Samfiru explains.

So should laid off Air Canada employees contact an employment lawyer if they have been offered a severance package?

“You may be able to use the lawyer’s assessment to negotiate on your own if you have a good relationship with the employer,’ says Samfiru, “but having a lawyer send a letter to the company is an effective way to kick-start a negotiation and get a better offer.”

Samfiru goes on to explain that typically these disputes are over quickly. “The employer is prepared to give you more, but hoping you don’t ask for it. The process can be more complicated if there are other documents involved, such as an employment agreement that limits your severance options, but those aren’t always binding,” he says.

“Going to court is the rare exception,” Samfiru states, “it’s only worthwhile if there’s a lot at stake, and if you’re sure you have a good chance at winning.”