Compensation | MacLeod Law Firm

Duty to Mitigate: What Happens to Earnings from a Lower Paying Job?

Hina Ghaus — Fri, 20 Jul 2018 14:41:45 +0000

Losing your job is one of life’s awfully stressful events. Yet, Canadian courts have long recognized the duty of a dismissed employee to seek new employment to mitigate their losses. The duty to mitigate requires wrongfully dismissed employees to take reasonable steps to minimize the losses they have suffered. Although not usually a burdensome standard to meet, a dismissed employee should be…

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Damages Owed Under Fixed Term Contracts

Nadia Halum — Tue, 28 Nov 2017 17:32:04 +0000

In my last blog post, I discussed a case where an independent contractor who signed a fixed term contract was owed notice of termination, specifically, 5 months and 3 weeks. There are very important differences between indefinite and fixed term contracts, particularly at the time of termination. In this week’s blog post, I’ll delve deeper into how damages are calculated when you are subject to a…

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Your Bonus – How to Ensure You Receive It?

Nicole Simes — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 15:12:09 +0000

What your contract says about your bonus is significant. There have been many legal disputes assessing the language of employment contracts in recent years. Many of these cases focus on bonuses. An employer can try to limit what you receive through the words in your contract. They can do so by making the bonus calculation and payment completely discretionary. They can also include language in…

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Independent Contractor Owed Notice of Termination

Nadia Halum — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 15:01:24 +0000

One common misconception is that, unlike employees, independent contractors are not owed notice of termination. In one recent case from Ontario, an employer was forced to pay an independent contractor for notice because of the way the termination clause was drafted in the contract. Although the facts of this case are somewhat unique, there are still important takeaway points for independent…

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Significant Changes to Employment Standards Coming to Ontario

Nicole Simes — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 12:36:56 +0000

On June 1, 2017, the Ontario government introduced legislation to amend Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the “ESA”) and the Labour Relations Act, 1995. The Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017 (the “Act”), builds on the Changing Workplaces Review Final Report which was released on May 23, 2017 after two years of consultations, including with our law firm. The Act proposes several…

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Your Rights as a Disabled Employee

Doug MacLeod — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 20:56:16 +0000

Employers have additional obligations towards disabled employees. In addition to rights under Ontario’s Human Rights Code, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act & the Workplace Safety & Insurance Act, Ontario’s courts and administrative tribunals have awarded disabled employees special damages for shoddy treatment. If you have been disabled at work then you have numerous rights…

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How to get around a termination clause

MacLeod Law Firm — Wed, 22 Feb 2017 19:58:10 +0000

You may have signed an employment contract with a termination clause. You may be wondering whether you are only entitled to the amount set out in this termination clause. The short answer is…it depends. There are a number of ways to attack a termination clause. If successful, you could be entitled to more termination pay than you are entitled to receive under the termination clause.

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Resignation vs. Termination: The $64,000 (or more) Question

Nadia Halum — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 19:44:20 +0000

Employers prefer it when an employee resigns because the employee is not entitled to any termination pay. To be valid, a resignation must be voluntary, clear and unequivocal; otherwise a so-called resignation could in fact be a termination, in which case the employee is entitled to termination pay. A contested resignation often takes place when an employee leaves the workplace after an emotional…

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Am I entitled to my bonus at termination?

Nadia Halum — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 20:58:25 +0000

We have previously written about when employees are entitled to receive their bonus at the time of termination. To recap, when an employee is terminated without cause, they are entitled to receive notice or pay in lieu of notice. The award in a wrongful dismissal claim is meant to place the terminated employee in the same financial position they would have been in had such notice been given.

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What kind of damages are you entitled to if an employer engages in malicious conduct?

Nadia Halum — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 22:28:59 +0000

Did you know that judges will sometimes award punitive damages to an employee when an employer engages in malicious conduct? This blog summarises one such case. Morison v Ergo-Industrial Seating Systems Inc. Mr. Morison was the company’s regional manager and a top salesperson who was unaware of any issues relating to his performance until, during his sixth year of employment, the company’s owner…

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