Employment Law Show: Ontario – S10 E69

Episode Summary

What constitutes a constructive dismissal? Can you be placed on a layoff? Employment Lawyer Lior Samfiru, co-managing Partner and national practice leader at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, answers those questions 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, Mondays to Thursdays, on 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

• Vaccine mandates lift for federal employees: Employees in federal positions that are not in a union should be expected to be called back to work. Employees who are not recalled to work are in a position to pursue their severance entitlements. Employees that work in federally regulated positions in which a vaccine mandate did not actually apply to them are in a much stronger position for severance pay.
• Put on a temporary layoff: Many employees have been placed on a temporary layoff as a result of the pandemic. In most cases employers do not have the right to place employees on a layoff and employees in this situation can treat this as constructive dismissal.
• Making significant changes to terms of employee’s job: Employers do not have the right to change the fundamental terms of an employee’s job, such as a major pay cut, relocation, demotion, etc. Employees do not have to accept these changes and after consulting legal advice can pursue constructive dismissal.
• Placed on unpaid leave or suspension: Employees that are suspended without pay or put on unpaid leave are effectively terminated. Employers are within their rights to discipline employees with a suspension with pay.
• Placed on a layoff and offered one month of severance by an employer: Employees should note that an initial offer of severance by their employer is rarely accurate. Severance entitlements are based on a number of factors, including the age of an employee, the position and length of service.
• Hiring solely vaccinated employees: It is currently an issue that has not been brought before a human rights tribunal. Employees can take legal action against employers but unfortunately will still prevent the employees from receiving a job offer.

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