Employment Law Show: Ontario – S11 E91

Episode Summary

What should employees know about severance pay calculations? 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

• Asked to return to the office despite childcare: Employers are within their rights to request employees return to the office if it was part of their original employment arrangement. Employers cannot ignore an employee’s potential childcare obligations, however, and must provide employees with reasonable notice to make arrangements. Employers that fail to provide accommodations based on family status in Ontario could face human rights violations.
• Notice periods and severance: Employers are within their rights to provide working notice to employees. In many cases, employees will be owed additional severance entitlements after the working notice period ends. Severance pay should be based on an employee’s years of service, age and position and should not be affected by an employer’s business situation.
• Consequences for misconduct: Employers must conduct an investigation to determine and prove that an employee has exhibited serious misconduct. Employers cannot immediately terminate an employee due to simple mistakes or errors and must show that disciplinary action was taken. Employees that are terminated “for cause” can often pursue wrongful dismissal.

Need an employment lawyer?

• Pocket Employment Lawyer: Before you call a lawyer, use the Pocket Employment Lawyer to find out if you might have a case. 
• Severance Pay Calculator: Discover how much severance pay you should get when you lose your job. Used successfully by nearly 2 million Canadians. 
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