It has been recently and widely reported that the Bank of Canada says it will be reducing its workforce by approximately 10% or 230 jobs. According to Reuters, the Bank of Canada has indicated that this workforce reduction is necessary to save costs.
What are federal employees?
The first thing that employees need to know if they work for the Bank of Canada and have been fired or laid off from their job is that they fall within Canada’s federal jurisdiction. Federal employees are workers who work in industries that are federally regulated. For example, employees who work in telecommunications, transportation or television or radio broadcasting are all considered to be federal employees along with employees who are employed by banks.
Federal employees that work in non-unionized workplaces have their own specific legislation that sets out their employment statutory standards and entitlements called the Canada Labour Code, 1985. The Canada Labour Code is similar, but not identical to Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000 which set outs the employment standards for provincial employees. For example, unlike provincial employees under the Employment Standards Act, federal employees can claim reinstatement when they have been terminated from their job provided certain conditions are met.
In the event of a true “discontinuance of function” (which is a fancy way of saying that their workplace was “restructured”), an employee may not be entitled to be reinstated to their job. Similarly, an employee who was terminated for just cause, may not be entitled to be reinstated to their job. Every case is unique and requires a careful analysis of the facts. And although many use the term “layoff” in the event of a restructuring, the truth is – a dismissal is a permanent ending to one’s job even if it happens as a result of purely financial or business reasons.
Learn how Zeilikman Law can help!
Experiencing a dismissal can be very distressing for those employees who must go through it. However, there are steps that employees can take to ensure that their rights to things like notice upon termination and severance pay are protected. Employees need to know that if they work as a bank employee, they should approach an employment lawyer to determine if they have been wrongfully dismissed and entitled to compensation. No employee should simply take what the employer has offered them at face value. They may be entitled to more than what the employer has initially offered them. An employee’s specific entitlements to notice will depend on several factors including the employee’s age, length of service, type of job they have, how much money they were making at their job and whether they have entered into an enforceable employment agreement.
Federally regulated employees may have a claim for wrongful dismissal if they did not receive enough notice of the termination or if they did not receive an adequate severance package. Like their provincial counterparts, federally regulated employees may also seek damages arising out discriminatory behaviour on the part of the employer as well as due to harassment, bullying or a toxic work environment, etc.
Federally regulated employees can commence a civil wrongful dismissal lawsuit just like their provincial counterparts for termination or severance pay, among other forms of relief, at common law and the analysis to determine the amount of termination pay will be the same as what is discussed with respect to termination pay and the common law for provincially regulated employees. Further, if the business was not, in fact, “restructuring” (even though it said it did) then a federally regulated employee may be able to seek reinstatement to their former role provided they meet the required criteria.
At Zeilikman Law, we have helped many professionals who work in all types of industries — including federal employees and their private sector provincial counterparts — protect their employment rights when they have experienced a dismissal or were let go due to restructuring. Zeilikman has written many blogs and articles on this topic. You can explore related issues in our posts on “Mass Layoffs and Terminations in the Tech Industry” and “Layoffs and Bankruptcy in the Canadian Retail Industry,” understand the broader economic picture in “A Canadian Employment Law Perspective on Tariffs,” or read our foundational guide, “Laid Off?”
If you’re an employee who has been affected by the Bank of Canada reducing jobs, call Zeilikman Law at (905) 417-2227 or contact us online today for a confidential consultation.
