Employment Law Show: Ontario – S11 E56

Episode Summary

Are employers able to terminate employees for any reason? 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

• Short-service employee severance: Employees often mistakenly believe they are not owed severance if terminated after a short amount of time. In reality, short-service employees are owed comparatively more severance pay than longer-service employees. This is due to the fact that finding future employment will be difficult.
• Without cause terminations: Employers are within their rights to terminate an employee for any reason as long as adequate severance is offered. Employers cannot terminate employees for discriminatory reasons, such as age, gender, religion, etc.
• Forced to relocate due to change in position: Employers cannot impose major changes to the terms of employment without an employee’s consent. This can include a major relocation. Employees that refuse to accept new terms, if terminated, are owed severance pay. A refusal to comply with major changes cannot be considered a resignation.
• Severance pay deadlines: Employers will often impose deadlines in order to force employees to accept an initial severance offer. This pressure tactic is meaningless as employees have up to two years after the initial date of termination to pursue their entitlements.

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