Musk threatens mass terminations for federal workers: Employment lawyer Jon Pinkus with AM800

Interview Summary

Elon Musk, an advisor to President Donald Trump, sent an email over the past weekend demanding that federal employees explain their accomplishments or risk being fired. Federal workers, a mix of conservation organizations, veterans, and unions, have since filed a lawsuit in the federal court arguing these terminations are not lawful. What would Canadian employees be entitled to under these circumstances?

Jon Pinkus, an Ontario employment lawyer and Partner at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP joined The Shift on AM800 to discuss this and other issues related to employee rights.

Interview Notes

• Merit to Musk’s threat to terminate employees: Pinkus commented that if an employer behaved as Musk has done in Canada, they would be facing legal action.
• Confusion for management and staff: The email sent out appeared to be problematic for many reasons, particularly the threat posed if staff did not respond. “I can’t speak to how resignations are dealt with in the U.S. but I imagine it is similar to those in Canada,” Pinkus noted. “A resignation at a bare minimum has to be initiated by the employee and must be voluntary.”
• Options for employees with multiple supervisors: “In a Canadian setting, if you were to receive an email like this, and a manager telling you not to do it, you have a right as an employee to consider your director superior to be who you take direction from,” Pinkus explained. It could also be in an employee’s best interest to write to HR and request clarification and reiterate that they have no intentions to resign.
• Employee protections if terminated: While there are no protections for employees to return to their jobs unless they are in a union, in a non-union setting employees would likely be owed severance. “An employer can let you go but would owed severance,” Pinkus explained. “Unless an employer can show you’ve done something extreme, and not responding to an e-mail would not meet that threshold, for most people you would have a right to compensation.”
• Resigning due to a toxic workplace: “I always tell people to put their health first,” said Pinkus. “If your doctor is telling you you can’t be in a job you should at the very least consider a medical leave,” Pinkus explained that severing the employment relationship due to a toxic workplace would be difficult. “Wait until the employer pulls the plug because they now have the burden of proving they had a good reason.”

Related Resources

For further insights and discussions related to employee rights, explore the following resource:

• Federally regulated employees
• Constructive dismissals