Employment Law Show: Ontario – S10 E120

Episode Summary

Can your employer remove your annual bonus?  Employment Lawyer Lior Samfiru, co-managing Partner and national practice leader at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, answers this question and more on the Employment Law Show. 

LISTEN BELOW to Ontario’s premiere radio show about employment law and workplace rights featuring the province’s leading employment lawyers. You can hear the show live on Mondays to Thursdays at 640 Toronto and 980 CFPL in London at 6:30 p.m. ET, as the hosts take calls from listeners and provide vital answers to employees and employers.

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Show Notes

• The employer decided to remove the annual bonus: Employers are not legally permitted to change a major term of employment such as a reduction in pay. Employers cannot remove a bonus that has been consistent and expected by employees. A dramatic reduction in pay is considered grounds for constructive dismissal.
• Fired for smoking cannabis at work: Employees do not have the right to smoke at work and can be fired for smoking at the workplace. Employees should consider behaviour around smoking cannabis in the same manner as consuming alcohol at the workplace. Termination for cause, however, is difficult to prove and an employee fired for cause in this situation could still have been wrongfully dismissed.
• Questions about car allowance and cars upon termination: Employees that have a company car or car allowance upon termination will have an additional financial burden. Upon termination, if a company decides to take away a car from an employee, they must be compensated. The value of a car or car allowance must be accounted for in an employee’s severance package.

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