Statutory Severance Pay – More Employees Will Be Entitled
The calculation of payroll under s.64 of the ESA is not restricted to Ontario employment; employment outside of Ontario must be included.
Terminated – Bonus, Stock Options, LTIP
Senior Executives, Directors and Senior Managers have compensation packages that often include bonuses, stock options, and/or LTIP payments. The Supreme Court of Canada in Matthews v. Ocean Nutrition Canada Ltd. (October 9, 2020) (which was a case out of Nova Scotia) confirmed…
Defined Benefit Pension Plans and Lump Sum Severance Packages
An employee may be a member of a Defined Benefit Pension Plan (“DB Pension Plan”) as part of his/her remuneration package. The DB Pension Plan is a significant term of the employee’s remuneration package. If an employee is terminated and…
What Happens to the Employee’s Bonus(es) where the Plan requires the Employee to be “Actively Employed” at Time of Pay-Out?
The bonus is often an integral part of an employee’s remuneration package. The bonus plan and/or the employment agreement may also stipulate that to be eligible for the bonus, the employee must be “actively employed” at the time the bonus…
Are You Being Solicited to Join Another Company?
Be Alert to the Termination Provisions in the Employment Agreement A company may ask a prospective employee (“employee”) to sign an employment agreement containing a termination provision prior to commencing employment. The offer of employment will be conditional upon the…
Wrongful Dismissal – Do I get my bonus?
If an employee is terminated and their remuneration package included a bonus component, they should vigorously pursue their claim for damages for the loss of the bonus(es). If payment for the bonus(es) is not included in the Company's proposed severance…
Terminated – The Loss of Disability Coverage
It is prudent for an employee to obtain individual critical illness insurance and/or individual disability insurance. The reason for this is that if the employee's employment is terminated, their insurance coverage for disability benefits (assuming they have coverage through their…
Terminations & Employee Pension Plans
When an employee is terminated without cause, the employee is entitled at common law to their salary and benefits that they would have received had they not been terminated, throughout the reasonable notice period, subject to any deduction on account of mitigation.
Letters of Reference & Wrongful Dismissal
A letter of reference is a key term in a wrongful dismissal matter. It would be prudent in most situations to include the actual letter as a term of the settlement. Attach it as an appendix, along with a provision that the oral references are consistent with the content of the reference letter. In some situations, it is stipulated that the oral references are confined to what is stipulated in the reference letter. This way you have made the reference letter and the oral references an actual term of the settlement.
Violence in the Workplace – Just Cause Not Found
In the 2014 Ontario case of Phanlouvong v. Northfield Metal Products (1994) Ltd., the Court found that punching a co-worker in the face did not constitute just cause and therefore, awarded the Plaintiff damages equivalent to 15 months pay less…