Walmart Tire & Lube Express Layoffs and Severance Pay

Walmart Canada has announced that it will be closing its Tire & Lube Express auto centre operations in stores across Canada.

Corporate affairs director Adam Grachnik explains in an email that the closures will allow Walmart to expand its online growth and continue to focus on its core business.

Grachnik notes that 550 employees in 106 stores across the country will be laid off as a result of the closures.

Tire & Lube Express and Severance Pay Facts

Employees of Walmart Canada’s Tire & Lube Express auto centres who are facing a layoff or termination have employment rights, especially concerning the severance pay they are owed. All non-unionized employees are entitled to severance pay during the COVID-19 pandemic if they are terminated, or let go, from their job. A company doesn’t have the option of “suspending” their legal obligations under the ESA due to the coronavirus outbreak.

If a non-unionized employee is let go from their job, they must be provided with the proper amount of severance pay.

LEARN MORE:
• Severance pay for Walmart employees

Incorrect Severance Packages and Wrongful Dismissal

Severance packages are often miscalculated by employers when laying off employees without cause. Approximately 90% of employees experience a wrongful dismissal when they lose their job. In other words, workers who are let go are not given the correct amount of severance pay under common law.

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Meaningless deadlines on severance offers

A common myth suggests that when a company like Walmart Canada fires an employee, the employee must accept a severance offer within a matter of days. If that severance offer deadline passes, that person’s right to severance pay expires. That is completely false. You have up to two years from the moment of your layoff or termination to obtain the severance package that you deserve.

Employees at this particular business should be aware that a 3 or 5 day deadline will not impact their ability to legally pursue a severance package with out team’s assistance.

How to properly calculate severance pay

Another false concept concerns how severance pay is calculated. There is a belief that severance pay comprises a week or two weeks for every year of service an employee has with the company. That formula does hold true when determining an individual’s MINIMUM severance pay amounts.

Most workplaces in Ontario and British Columbia are governed by the ESA. The ESA sets the least amount of compensation that an employee should receive when let go from their job.

When confirming a person’s complete severance package, it is vital to do so using “common law” methods. Our court system determines what compensation a worker should receive when they lose their job. For non-unionized employees, the main factors of termination pay are age, length of service, position, and ability to find new work. Use this helpful severance pay tool to determine your severance pay range.

These factors apply to employees that have been let go from Walmart’s Tire & Lube Express locations.

Additional Resources:
Severance Pay in Ontario
Bonuses and severance pay

Termination “for cause”

In a termination “for cause” the employer does not have to provide severance pay to the outgoing employee. The employee must be given their accrued wages and vacation pay.

What many employers and employees don’t realize is that a vast majority of these types of terminations are not valid, simply because the reason for dismissal is not serious enough to warrant a termination without severance pay.

A true dismissal for cause is reserved for the most serious workplace misconduct (think dishonesty or theft). Generally speaking, a termination for cause does not apply when an employee is late for work, or fails to pass a performance improvement plan.

In cases where the employer is unable to prove that they had just cause, the employee is owed full severance pay.

Ministry of Labour or Employment Standards Branch

If you lose your job at Walmart Canada (or any retail company), it is imperative that you do not consult with the Ministry of Labour in Ontario or the Employment Standards Branch in British Columbia. As noted earlier, they are unable to secure your full severance pay. They can only obtain your minimum termination pay according to government policy.

Once you file a claim with either one of those provincial bodies (depending on which province your live or work in), you relinquish your right to file a claim with one of our skilled employment lawyers.

Before you seek advice from the Ministry of Labour or the Employment Standards Branch about your dismissal from Walmart, contact us to discover the full extent of your rights.

Don’t sign on the dotted line!

If you wish to explore all of your options post-termination, do not sign any severance offer, termination papers or exit agreement that Walmart may provide you with. Once you put pen to paper, you eliminate your ability to negotiate a fair severance package.

Our employment lawyers in Toronto, Vancouver employment lawyers and employment lawyers Ottawa have helped thousands of individuals across Ontario and BC. Contact us or call 1-855-821-5900 to get the advice you need, and the compensation you deserve.