Telus buys LifeWorks for $2.9 billion: Employee rights

Telus Corporation has signed a deal to acquire Lifeworks Inc. in a transaction valued at $2.9 billion (CAD), including debt.

In the announcement, Telus said it will buy LifeWorks for $33 per LifeWorks common share, or about $2.3 billion, along with the assumption of $600 million in net debt.

What is LifeWorks?

LifeWorks, formerly called Morneau Shepell, is a human resources services and technology company. It provides companies with employee and family assistance plans, absence management, pension and benefits administration, and retirement planning. 

LifeWorks employs a workforce with over 6,000 people. Headquartered in Toronto, it has offices in the United States, Brazil, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Severance pay for LifeWorks employees

LifeWorks employees working in Ontario, Alberta or British Columbia (Canada) who are fired or laid off are owed full severance pay. Severance is the compensation a non-unionized worker receives from their employer when they are fired without cause. It is also owed when somebody is incorrectly fired “for cause”.

How to properly calculate severance pay

Severance is calculated in Canada by considering multiple factors, including someone’s age, time spent at the company and their position. The total amount can reach 24 months’ pay.

If a person does not receive proper compensation from their employer, they can pursue a wrongful dismissal with an employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP.

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Severance for Telus employees

Never accept or sign back a severance offer before having an experienced employment lawyer at our firm review it. Companies often provide inadequate severance, in anticipation that most people won’t check the amount to make sure it is fair. Once you sign back your termination papers, you lose your right to pursue what you are actually owed. An employee has two years from the moment they are fired to file a claim for compensation.

Use our helpful Severance Pay Calculator to determine your severance entitlements.

LifeWorks employees who are brought over to Telus

If Telus decides to hire you as part of the sale of LifeWorks, they will inherit your length of service.

For example: if you worked for LifeWorks for 15 years, Telus must acknowledge that length of service. They can’t restart the clock on your seniority. If you lose your job in the future, you will be owed a severance package based on the time you spent working for both LifeWorks and Telus.

Don’t sign a new employment contract

If you were a previous LifeWorks employee and are presented with a new employment contract from Telus, you should have the document reviewed by an employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP. Our lawyers routinely help individuals who have been offered a new job or a promotion to better understand the terms of the proposed contract of employment.

In our experience, we have found that there are several ways in which an employer may use the new contract to change your employee rights:

• Eliminate past service: through specific language, the new owner may try to reduce or eliminate your past years of service with your previous employer. If you acknowledge this fact, you will give up a key component used to determine severance pay.
• Termination clause: This type of clause will try to reduce your severance entitlements to the bare minimum. This could result in a few weeks’ pay rather than months of pay if you lose your job.
• Ability to make changes: A passage may give the company the ability to put you on a layoff or change your job (duties, pay) without your permission.

Your employer can’t force you to sign a new employment agreement, especially one that diminishes your rights.

If you have a good reason not to work for Telus, you may be able to resign with a severance package. Reasons can include being given a new title, position or duties, a new work location, significant change in hours, or a reduction in pay. Contact our team today to find out what your rights are if you are in this situation.

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Employee rights when a company closes down

LifeWorks employees who are not brought over to Telus

If you are a LifeWorks employee that loses their job as a result of the acquisition with Telus, you are entitled to severance pay. If a company that buys a business (in this case, Telus) does not want to keep an employee, that person is out of a job, and the seller (LifeWorks) must provide proper compensation.

WATCH NOW: Employment lawyer, Lior Samfiru, discusses employee rights when a business is sold on an episode of The Employment Law Show.

Changes to your job

LifeWorks employees do not have to accept a significant change to their job that Telus may try to enforce. Large modifications, such as a demotion, cut in pay, reduction in hours, negative change to commission, are illegal. When the terms of your employment are significantly changed, the law allows you to resign from your job and seek full severance pay through a constructive dismissal claim, with help from an employment lawyer.

LEARN MORE
• Can your employer make changes to your job in Ontario?
• Changes to your employment in B.C.
• What happens when your job is changed in Alberta

Talk to us today

Our experienced employment lawyers in Ontario, Alberta or B.C. have helped tens of thousands of non-unionized employees in Canada preserve their rights. We can inspect your employment agreement, identify your rights, and help make simple the complexities you may encounter in the workplace.

For a quick understanding of what your options when employment issues arise, use our Pocket Employment Lawyer.