Employment Law Show: Ontario – S10 E94

Episode Summary

What is your employer obligated to accommodate? What are the next steps for terminated workers employed at an agency? Employment Lawyer Stan Fainzilberg, Partner 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 on 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.

Listen to the Episode

Show Notes

• Frustration of contract: Stan opens the show by clarifying what counts as a ‘frustration of contract.’ A frustration of contract may occur when a medical condition or injury prevents you from returning to your job. In a frustration of contract, your employment will be treated as being terminated, and minimum severance pay will be paid to you.
• Unable to return to your job from a leave: Stan discusses what may happen if you are on a leave and unable to return to your previous job due to a medical condition or disability. Your employer may choose to terminate you through a frustration of contract, or accommodate you with modified duties or a new role all together.
• Business sold: Employees are owed severance pay when a business is sold. Stan explains whether the previous employer or the buyer is obligated to pay the severance in various scenarios.
• Employment rights and vaccine mandates: Stan discusses vaccine mandates in the workplace and religious exemptions.
• How to calculate severance: Stan debunks the myth that severance pay is only two weeks per year of service. According to common law, severance pay is calculated from various factors including age, position, length of service, and employability.
• Termination clauses: A caller asks about termination clauses, and Stan explains that more often than not, they are not enforceable. Always have your contract and severance package reviewed by an experienced employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, as it could be the difference of two weeks severance and two years!

Need an employment lawyer?

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