Fired from your job? Read this blog to discover 4 practical steps to take when you receive a termination letter from your employer.

#1 – Do NOT Sign a Termination Letter or Termination Package Right Away.

An employee should not be afraid of breaching any sort of “deadline” that is set out in any termination letter or termination package. In most cases these “deadlines” for acceptance set by the employer are completely arbitrary.

An employee should only be concerned about the employer’s proposed deadline if they wish to accept the termination package as it is set out and the compensation contained in the termination package is greater than what the employee is legally owed. Also, there could be a limitation period issue if the termination package is close to being 2 years old from the date of dismissal or the date of the termination package. We strongly recommend that anyone who has a question or concern about limitation periods should contact an employment lawyer to have those concerns addressed.

However, most of the time the termination package or severance package offered to employees contains insufficient compensation. Likewise, in most instances (other than when serious allegations of cause are involved such as willful misconduct) employers have an obligation to pay employees their minimum statutory entitlements as set out in Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”) 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 than what is legally owed to them.

#2 – Gather Your Documents Including Your Employment Agreement or Employment Contract.

It is crucial that dismissed employees gather their documents before agreeing to any of the terms set out in a termination letter or termination package. These documents can be used by the employee and an employment lawyer if the employee decides to approach an employment lawyer to discuss their case in order to determine what compensation the employee is entitled to upon termination.

Here is a quick list of common documents that the employee should request from their employer once they are dismissed and handed a termination letter or termination package by their former employer:

• The employee’s original employment contract or employment agreement.
• Any additional employment contracts or employment agreements that the employer had the employee sign and accept.
• The termination letter.
• The termination package or severance package.
• Pay stubs for their last year of employment.
• Bonus or commission statements from their employer.
• Tax forms for the last few years.
• Company policies or handbooks that may be relevant.

#3 – Learn About Your Employment Law Rights to Termination or Severance Pay.

There are a few employment law terms that employees should be somewhat familiar with in order to get a basic understanding of what they may be owed upon dismissal.

Here are a few of those terms:

Wrongful Dismissal – this occurs when an employee is terminated but the employer has failed to provide the employee with the appropriate working notice of termination and the employer had no legal justification for doing so.

Constructive Dismissal – this occurs in situations where the employee has not been formally terminated or fired, but rather where a term of the employment contract has been altered by the employer unilaterally and so fundamentally as to change the intent of the parties to the terms of employment. It may also occur when the employer evinces an intention to no longer be bound by the terms of employment.

Termination for Cause – this occurs where the employer dismisses an employee without providing notice of dismissal or a severance package, as there is an alleged “cause” for the termination.  Termination for cause is found where there is serious misconduct, habitual neglect of duty, incompetence, etc. The acts or omissions by the employee will have gone to the root of the employment agreement, and it will become impossible for the employment relationship to continue. In Ontario, the law distinguishes the standard for cause at common law from the Employment Standards Act, 2000.

Mitigation – a legal obligation that dismissed employees must take reasonable efforts to secure alternative employment or sources of income following their dismissal.

Notice of Termination – when an employee has been dismissed from their job, the employer must provide the employee with a working notice of their impending termination in the future. Although failure to provide actual working notice of termination constitutes a breach of an implied term of contract, employers may also provide employees with termination pay in lieu of that notice or a combination of both. Termination pay is simply monetary compensation to the employee in lieu of notice of the termination.

Severance Pay – severance pay is an amount that an employer pays to an employee when that employee loses their job. Severance pay is not termination pay or pay in lieu of notice (although these terms are often used interchangeably). To get severance pay, an employee who was dismissed from their job will need to meet certain requirements. Those requirements are set out in Ontario’ legislation that deals with employment standards called the Employment Standards Act, 2000.

#4 – Approach an Employment Lawyer to Review your Case.

Why should an employee approach an employment lawyer 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.

How can Zeilikman Law Help?

If you would like more information about this specific topic, please look at our blog entitled You received a termination letter from your employer stating that you are dismissed. So, what do you do now? and Learn Why You Should ALWAYS Get an Employment Lawyer to Review Your Termination or Severance Package.

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.