Employment Law Show 640 Toronto – S7 E75

Summary

A medical leave due to increased workload, when child care benefits are cut, suspension without pay, 13-week temporary layoffs, verbal terminations, massive demotion and pay cut, and illegal employment contract clauses on the season 7 episode 69 of the Employment Law Show.

Employment Lawyer Lior Samfiru, Partner at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, reveals your workplace rights in Ontario on the Employment Law Show. Lior shatters myths and misconceptions about severance pay, terminations, workplace harassment, overtime pay, wrongful dismissal, constructive dismissal, duty to accommodate, and more.

What We Covered

I am on a medical leave for stress because my employer doubled my workload. What can I do?

1:30 – An individual had been doing administrative work with the same employer for 12 years. This year the company fired her coworker as a cost-cutting measure, but did not replace the employee. They gave the individual all of her former coworker’s workload. She was now doing two jobs. She was forced to take a stress leave due to the extra work. She asked the company to hire additional help, but they declined. She is still on a medical leave and does not want to return. Lior explains how the company essential changed the terms of her employment. She can treat her employment as being constructively dismissed, meaning that she can resign with full severance pay.

My employer is no longer honouring the benefits they promised to provide me with during the job interview. Can I force them to change their mind?

4:52 – My girlfriend was hired on to a new job. During the interview she was offered a salary along with details on benefits, which include expenses for kilometers driven in her personal vehicle. When she tried to submit her kilometers after the first two weeks on the job, her employer told her that they are no longer providing benefits or coverage on the kilometers. Can they make a change like that to a verbal agreement they had during the interview process? The agreement was not actually laid out in the employment contract she originally signed. Lior explains the importance of getting any and all agreements between an employee and employer in writing, such as a contract or email.

I was suspended without pay after an incident occurred during my shift. I believe I will be fired “for cause” tomorrow. What are my rights?

8:40 – I work part-time in non-unionized security position for a municipality. During the course of my duty, I had to confront and take action against some people who were engaged in prohibited activity. Management decided to open an investigation into what happened. They took me off the schedule (suspended me without pay) a few months ago without actually telling me what I did wrong. They want to meet with me tomorrow. I believe that they will be terminating my job for cause. What should I do? Would I be owed severance pay if they do let me go? Lior explains why his employment was effectively terminated when they originally suspended him without pay. The caller would also be owed full severance pay as his conduct did not likely add up to a termination for cause.

What does the Pocket Employment Lawyer do?

12:18 – Lior talked about PocketEmploymentLawyer.ca and what it can do for individuals across Canada. It can be used to determine if your specific employment situation requires assistance from an employment lawyer. It’s like having an employment lawyer on your smartphone in your own pocket! Whether you staring at a termination for cause, mired in a constructive dismissal situation, not sure if you’ve been misclassified as an independent contractor, or trying to figure out if that severance package you’ve been offered is fair, the Pocket Employment Lawyer can give you the answers that the Ministry of Labour will not provide you.

My employer is eliminating a child care benefit that covered $9,000 in child care costs for my two children. What are my rights?

14:01 – My wife is off on a maternity leave right now. During her mat leave, her employer removed one of her employee benefits – a substantial discount on child care services. We will not be able to use the benefit for out two children when my wife returns to work. This change to her benefits will cost us an extra $9,000 per year in child care costs. Her employer explained that they eliminated the benefit because they had “merged” her position. The child care benefit constitutes nearly 25% of her total salary. My wife was working on a contract, which was extended by her employer after her original contract expired. Lior explained why such a significant change to the terms of her employment means that she has been constructively dismissed, and is owed severance pay if she decides that she no longer wants to work for the company.

If you are an employee, you should never make assumptions about your employment rights

20:45 – Everybody thinks they know what the law says about your workplace rights. Most of the time, the advice you obtain from your family and friends is slightly or grossly incorrect. Just as you should never seek accurate medical advice from somebody who isn’t a doctor, you should not obtain legal advice from somebody who isn’t an experienced lawyer. Don’t make assumptions – contact us and discover the truth about employment law for employees.

I have been put on a 13-week Temporary Layoff with benefits. Do I have to wait until after the 13 weeks to get severance pay?

23:12 – My daughter was just put on a 13-week temporary layoff. The company said that they may or may not call her back to work after the 13-week period is up. They are offering to keep her benefits going during that period of time. If the 13-week period goes by and they decide not to hire her back to her position, can she go after them for her two weeks’ severance pay? Lior reveals that she doesn’t have to wait for the 13 weeks to expire in order to get her severance package, unless she signed an employment contract that contains a clause covering temporary layoffs or has accepted a temporary layoff from that company in the past.

Can my manager demote me and reduce my salary?

26:23 – I have been a lead hand at a company for the past 16 years. My manager wants to demote me from lead hand down to a coordinator at reduced pay. This would be a blatant constructive dismissal because the individual is being demoted in title, job description, and pay. He is in a position to receive a substantial severance package if he chooses to leave his job at the company.

If you are an employee, never accept significant changes to the terms of your employment

29:01 – Do not allow your employer to make major changes to an aspect of your job. Your employer is not legally allowed to make changes to your job without your explicit permission. If they do, you can treated your job as having been terminated, allowing you to leave the workplace with severance pay. If you do allow your employer to make a change to your job once, you have essentially given them permission to do so again and you will not be able to legally stop them.

If you are an employee, never accept a verbal termination. Get proof of the lay off in writing

30:10 – When you are fired, terminated or laid off from your job, make sure you get confirmation of the termination in writing. Do not rely on a verbal termination as proof that your employer actually let you go from your job. If you do not get acknowledgement from your employer in writing, and you attempt to obtain severance pay from them down the road, the employer may be able to argue that you were not fired and in fact you resigned from your position voluntarily, meaning that the company would not owe you severance pay.

I am applying for a new position. The employment contract for the new job contains a clause that restricts severance pay to two weeks and forces me to use the company’s doctor for medical issues.

32:56 – I’ve been at a company for 10 years. I was asked to apply for a new position created within the company. The new position carried with it a very large salary. However, the employment contract for the position states that if I am terminated from the position, they will only give me two weeks of pay. There is also a clause that forces me to use a doctor of their choosing for medical issues and provides my employer with complete access to my medical information. Lior explained why this employment contract is completely illegal and a human rights violation, and that termination clause would take away all of his rights to full severance pay under common law.

Experiencing an Employment Issue?

Before you call a lawyer, use the Pocket Employment Lawyer to find out if you might have a case.

Use The Severance Pay Calculator to find out how much severance pay you may be owed upon termination.

Call 1-855-821-5900, email Help@EmploymentLawyer.ca or fill out a contact form to get help now from an Toronto employment lawyer.

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