When you start a new job, you’re usually handed an array of paperwork – even digital-first companies still resort to paper for some of these items. They may include a copy of your employment contract that you had signed, information about how to claim employee health benefits, and some opaque-sounding booklet known as an employment manual. While job-specific training may be given one-on-one or in small groups, these employee manuals often apply to the whole company and, at first glance, often sound very generic. Of course, you know not to miss work, not to come into the office in a...

When an employee sues their former employer for wrongful termination, their claim is usually for what is known as ‘common law notice.’ This amount is roughly a judge’s estimation, given that person’s circumstances, of how long it will take them to find comparable new work. Determining this amount is an art, not a science. While there is a common misconception of a ‘1 month per year of service’ rule, that has never been the law. A court will review an employee’s age, how long they were with the employer, the nature of the work they were doing, the current job market, and other factors to...

Employment contracts are a tricky business. We spoke in our recent blog about the importance of employment contracts, and how they’re instrumental in setting out the expectations for both employers and employees in the working relationship. For employers especially, they are meant to provide a sense of formality, and certainty. They can also be minefields.  That’s because employment contracts are different from most other types of contracts. Yes, it is possible to draw up a simple contract between two friends on a bar cocktail napkin and turn it into a legally binding agreement (although...

Constructive dismissal is easily one of the most popular phrases from employment law within the past two decades. It is also one of the most widely misunderstood legal concepts in this field. Far too often, employees will come to see us claiming they have been constructively dismissed and then produce their termination letter, their Record of Employment, and other key documents that indicate this was not in any way constructive dismissal. Dismissal is a common problem for employees – most employees will go through a ‘layoff,’ ‘downsizing,’ or ‘dismissal’ at least once in their careers....

There is still a common belief among Ontario employees that holding onto a job forever is their right, and any time that an employer ends their employment they are automatically in the wrong. “They can’t fire me!” “They can’t do that!” “They need to give me a reason.” These employees are half right. Yes, if an employment contract does not have a fixed end date, then that job can theoretically run forever, or at least for the employee’s lifetime. However, either side still has the power to end that contract – employees can resign, and employers have the power to end their employment...

When we think of human rights, we tend to think in broad terms. We think of grand historical figures in the 20th and 21st century who have been campaigning for the advancement of human rights in various forms. These are important and noble causes, but the truth is that human rights impact us much closer to home than we might imagine. In Ontario, the Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19 (the “Code”) is the defining piece of legislation that governs our human rights in most of our lives – in accommodation, in how we form contracts, and, for our purposes here, in the workplace. In...