Read this blog to discover why it is crucial for an employee to contact an employment lawyer upon dismissal in order for that employment lawyer to review their termination or severance package before acceptance.

An employee should not be afraid of breaching any sort of “deadline” for acceptance that the employer sets out in a termination or severance package. In most cases these “deadlines” for acceptance are completely arbitrary. In the absence of clearly enforceable language (for instance in the case of an employment agreement that provides for liquidated damages on top of statutory minimums upon dismissal) an employee has no obligation to accept a severance package by a particular deadline. An employee should only be concerned about the employer’s proposed deadline if they wish to accept the package “as is.” However, most of the time the severance packages offered to employees represent woefully insufficient compensation. Likewise, in most instances (other than when serious allegations of cause are involved such as wilful misconduct) employers have an obligation to pay the employee’s their minimum statutory entitlements regardless of whether the employee wishes to accept the termination package. The fact is, in most cases, employers will artificially set a date by which the employee must “accept” the termination or severance package as a pressure tactic to get the employee to agree to compensation that is less that what is legally owed to them.

#1 – Your Lawyer Will Ensure That You Obtain the Highest Compensation Possible Upon Dismissal.

An employment lawyer will be able to help an employee obtain the highest amount of compensation available to them upon their dismissal. They can help an employee in this way because an employment lawyer will immediately look at two things with respect to an employee’s termination.

The first thing an employment lawyer looks at is whether or not the termination or severance package that the employer has delivered to the employee is compliant with the statutory minimum entitlements that are set out in Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000. Specifically, the employment lawyer will review the severance or termination package to see if the employer has properly accounted for termination pay, whether there is any severance pay owing and that the severance pay is properly accounted for, whether the employee is owed any vacation pay or benefits, etc.

Secondly, in conjunction with the above assessment, an employment lawyer should then review whether the employee was subject to a written employment agreement or employment contract and whether there exists a termination clause that may limit an employee’s entitlements upon dismissal to minimum statutory entitlements or if the employee is entitled to common law notice as well. The employment lawyer will review the severance or termination package along with the employment contract to see if the employee’s entitlements align with what was set out in the employee’s employment contract or agreement.

#2 – Your Lawyer Will Ensure You Are Aware of Any Claims You Have Against Your Former Employer.

There are many different issues that the employee should be aware of when employment ends that go beyond simply addressing the termination or severance package or even what is in the employment contract. There may be certain key aspects of an employee’s own specific case that they should be aware of because they may have a claim against their employer for wrongful dismissal or other forms of damages.

Here are some concerns that an employment lawyer will be able to address:

• Was there a valid termination clause in the employment contract?
• Are there other clauses in the employment contract that could limit the employee’s conduct post-employment?
• Was there any evidence of bad faith in the manner of the employee’s dismissal?
• Was there any evidence of inducement?
• Did the employee experience bullying or harassment at their workplace?
• Did the employer fail to accommodate the employee?
• Was there any evidence that the employee was discriminated against?

The bottom line is that failing to account for the above legal issues (and there are others as this is not a complete list of possible concerns by any stretch) may result in the employee not having their full legal rights protected. An employment lawyer can ensure that the employee is aware of whatever claims they may have so that they can obtain their full legal entitlements to compensation.

#3 – Your Lawyer Will Ensure You Know of Any Risks Upon Accepting the Termination or Severance Package or even Upon Review of Your Employment Contract.

Once the above assessments are completed by the employment lawyer, the employment lawyer should then move on and discuss with the employee what their next steps should be given the information about their own specific case that the employee now has available to them. There may be a clear answer as to what the employee should do with respect to the offered severance or termination package or the answer may be a bit more nuanced depending on what the facts are and what the employee’s own risk tolerance is.

For instance, should the dismissed employee take the severance or termination package as is?  Should they negotiate with their employer for a better severance or termination package? Should they simply sue their employer for their entitlements?  These are questions that the employment lawyer will be able to help the dismissed employee work though. The key take away that readers should get from this blog is that an employee should never accept a termination or severance package offered by their former employer right away without first having that package reviewed by an employment lawyer.

How Zeilikman Law Can Help!

It is crucial that an employee who has been terminated approach an employment lawyer to review their termination or severance package. They can help ensure that the employee’s legal rights are protected upon termination so that the employee gets the compensation that they are owed.

For more information regarding when employees (or employers) should contact an employment lawyer, please review:

• When Should an Employee Hire an Employment Lawyer?
• What Does an Employment Lawyer Do?
• You received a termination letter from your employer stating that you are dismissed. So, what do you do now?
• What To Do If You Have Been Fired

Not reaching out to an employment lawyer may result in an employee failing to obtain their full legal entitlements to things like severance or termination pay. Zeilikman Law can be contacted at (905) 417-2227 or online here to schedule a confidential consultation with one of Zeilikman Law’s employment lawyers.