Employment Law Show: Ontario – S11 E06

Episode Summary

Can you be let go while on parental leave? 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, Sundays at 1 p.m. ET, on Newstalk 1010 in Toronto, as the hosts take calls from listeners and provide vital answers to employees and employers.

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Show Notes

• Negotiating employment terms after signing a contract: Employees should always seek legal advice from an employment lawyer before signing an employment contract. Legally, an employer has to abide by the terms an employee has agreed to in a contract. Employers do not have the obligation to make certain terms of employment “fair” for employees.
• An employee on maternity leave terminated: Employees cannot be penalized or terminated as a result of taking parental or maternity leave. Employers are obligated to allow employees to return to the same job and position. Employers cannot legally decide to preemptively terminate employees on leave. In the event a position is legitimately no longer available, employers must offer employees adequate severance pay.
• Terminated for no reason by an employer: Employers are legally within their rights to terminate an employee for any reason. A wrongful dismissal occurs if an employee has been terminated without cause and not offered adequate severance pay. Employees should be aware that they cannot be let go due to discriminatory reasons.
• Wage disparity between co-workers: Employees cannot be discriminated against in regard to any protected grounds, i.e. age, gender, religion, etc. It can be very difficult for employees to prove a disparity as a result of their age or gender.

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