Karen Tereposky
B.A. (Hons.), J.D.
Senior Associate
Contact Information
Contact Karen
T: 1 (844) 661-9065 (Ext. 257)
F: (587) 387-7218
E: karen.tereposky@stlawyers.ca
Contact Assistant – Tonya Pauw
Practice Areas
Employment Law
Location
Calgary
Experience
Karen Tereposky is an Alberta employment lawyer and Senior Associate with Samfiru Tumarkin LLP’s Labour and Employment Law practice group, serving clients through the firm’s Calgary office.
Employees and employers come to Karen with a range of workplace issues and employment matters, including (but not limited to):
- Wrongful dismissal claims and executive departures
- Constructive dismissals
- Severance package reviews
- Employment contract drafting and disputes
- Employee misclassification
- Workplace harassment, sexual harassment and discrimination
- Non-competition and non-solicitation agreements
Her clients are broadly representative of the province’s various industries, including energy and natural resources, large commercial lenders, and other entities within the sphere of labour and employment law.
Karen’s style of counsel is practical and focused, while still maintaining a calm approachability that puts employees and employers at ease. Her familiarity with the process of labour and employment disputes allows her to manage client expectations while striving to secure an equitable resolution to an issue. Read reviews about Karen.
Karen has appeared at multiple levels of court in Alberta and Saskatchewan — making her comfortable and confident in a variety of legal settings.
Her family keeps her on the go when she isn’t in the office. You can find Karen coaching soccer with one of her three children, or keeping herself busy by staying fit and active. She enjoys playing soccer, snowboarding, and running.
Notable Cases
Hotel GM Wrongfully Dismissed
Karen and the team at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP successfully argued that their client was owed far more severance pay than her minimum entitlements under Alberta’s Employment Standards Code.
Publications
2025
- Starbucks makes handwritten notes on cups mandatory: Employee rights
- Alberta truck driver wrongfully dismissed, not a ‘construction employee’
- Whitecap Resources, Veren to merge in $15B deal: Employee rights
2024
- Secret recordings: Alberta court orders trial for wrongful dismissal claim
- Can I be fired in Alberta if I’m late due to weather?
- Can employers in Alberta force staff to work if it’s too cold?
- Can my employer force me to resign in Alberta?
- Wearing a poppy at work: What employees need to know
- Garden leave in Canada: Employee rights
- B.C. operations specialist induced, awarded 12 months of severance
- ‘Coffee badging’: What employees need to know
- Stress leave in Alberta: Employee rights
- Can employers in Alberta fire workers for getting married?
- Can employers in Alberta fire workers for taking stress leave?
- Can employers in Alberta fire workers for taking a vacation?
- B.C. worker awarded more than $170K, harassed and abandoned in Mexico
- Can employers in Alberta fire workers during maternity or parental leave?
- BMO fires bankers following alleged homophobic harassment
2023
- Spanish YouTuber suing Google, alleges wrongful dismissal
- Can employers in Alberta force workers to retire?
- Can my employer ban the use of AI at work?
- Calgary transit worker reinstated, arbitrator finds termination too excessive
- Can employers force Albertans to return to the office after working remotely?
- Can employers in Alberta cut a worker’s hours?
- Can employers in Alberta allege cause after firing someone?
- Can employers in Alberta force staff to work if it’s too hot?
- Can employers in Alberta demote staff?
- B.C. education assistant fired after refusing to remove OnlyFans account
- Lululemon employees fired after robbery, breached ‘zero-tolerance’ policy
- Recruited by another company in Alberta: Employee rights
- MillerKnoll CEO tells staff worried about bonuses to ‘leave Pity City’
- Can my employer increase my workload in Alberta?
- Alberta executive awarded full severance, employer can’t ‘change horses’ on cause
2022
- ‘Quiet Quitting’: What employees need to know
- Reprisals at work in Alberta: Know your rights
- Canadian Trucking Alliance calls for immediate government action against ‘Driver Inc.’
- Do I have to look for a new job after getting fired?
- Female Twitter staff ‘disproportionately targeted’ during layoffs, lawsuit alleges
- Can I be fired after returning from sick leave in Alberta?
- Sick notes in Alberta: Rights for employees
- Mass layoffs in Alberta: Rights to severance
- Employer found liable to pay severance after shuttering one business to open another
- Failure to properly discipline employee results in more severance: Federal courts
- Alberta cardiac surgeon Dr. Teresa Kieser makes human rights complaint
- Mental health not a factor in layoff of Alberta construction employee
- How do wrongful dismissals work in Alberta? – Global News
- Manager doesn’t like you? Alberta court says it’s not termination for cause
- Pay cuts not permitted, even in a pandemic: Alberta court
- Fair severance pay in Canada
Interviews & Media
2025
- Justice for Sexually Harassed Toronto Worker – Canadian HR Reporter
2023
- Indigo Data Breach and Alberta Employers – Global News Calgary
- Employer Obligations at Calgary Stampede Parties – 770 CHQR
- Government Oversight After Indigo Breach – Canadian HR Reporter
- Calgary employment lawyer on “Kraken” COVID variant and remote work – CityNews
2022
- Employment lawyer on potential Alberta stat holiday for the Queen – Global News
- Calgary employment lawyer on investigating ward councillor – Global News
2021
- Alberta employment lawyer on worker rights post-COVID-19 – Global News
- Employee and employer rights in Alberta post-pandemic – 770 CHQR
Education
- University of Saskatchewan, 1999, Bachelor of Law, With Great Distinction
- University of Saskatchewan, 1996, Bachelor of Arts, With Honours
Memberships & Affiliations
- Active member of the Law Society of Alberta
Initiatives
Presentations
Wellspring
Karen routinely conducts presentations about employment and human rights for Wellspring, a Canada-wide non-profit organization that provides free programs and services to anyone with cancer.
Additional Resources
Discover more about your employment rights in Alberta.Blog
Changes to your employment in Alberta: What you should know
Has your employer made changes to your job in Alberta? Explore our resource to find out what your rights are.
Blog
Suncor cutting 1,500 jobs to ensure ‘ongoing competitiveness’
The reduction at the oilsands giant is part of a plan to cut costs by $400-million by the end of 2023.
