Damages | MacLeod Law Firm

Employee Entitlements Upon Termination

MacLeod Law Firm — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 13:59:03 +0000

Termination is a stressful experience for any employee. An employee who has been fired needs to understand what their employer owes them, and what their employer is offering them. When employers do not make this clear, additional damages could be due to the employee. When an employee is terminated, they are entitled to receive certain minimum payments under the Employment Standards Act (ESA).

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Reducing Litigation Risk

Doug MacLeod — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 14:00:26 +0000

In a recent case, Pohl v. Hudson’s Bay Company, 2022 ONSC 5230 (CanLII),an employer was ordered to pay a long service employee the equivalent of about 3 years pay and contribute about $ 35 000 to his legal fees. Although this was a without cause termination case, it was anything but a simple case. It addressed some of the litigation risk inherent in wrongful dismissal litigation.

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Can an Employee Stop an Employer from Hiring a Job Applicant?

Doug MacLeod — Mon, 25 Mar 2019 12:56:05 +0000

In a recent case, a female employee asked her employer not to hire a male executive because he had sexually harassed her when he had been employed earlier. The employer refused, the employee quit, and claimed, among other things, wrongful dismissal damages and punitive damages. This case deals with the conflict between an employer’s right to hire whomever it wishes and its obligation to provide…

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How to Quantify Damages for a Union Employee When Reinstatement is Inappropriate

MacLeod Law Firm — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 15:00:20 +0000

An arbitrator who upholds a grievance can reinstate the employee, or order the employer to pay the employee damages. In a 2018 arbitration case, Arbitrator Surdykowksi decided how to calculate damages for an employee who was not reinstated. Facts Dr. Bernard was a tenured professor in the History Department at Lakehead University (the “University”). Beginning in 2012…

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Negligent misrepresentation during recruitment process costs employer $83,000

Nadia Halum — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 20:53:54 +0000

Providing misleading information to an employee during the recruitment process about the eligibility for an employee benefits program cost an employer $83,000 Feldstein v 364 Northern Development Corporation Mr. Feldstein applied for a software engineer position with 364 Northern Development Corporation (“the Company”). Before accepting the position, Mr. Feldstein asked the Company’s Chief…

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Can You Get Damages For Being Harassed at Work?

Doug MacLeod — Tue, 07 Mar 2017 22:00:37 +0000

Ontario’s Occupational Health & Safety Act outlaws workplace harassment but an employee cannot collect damages for being harassed at work under this law. In a recent case, an Ontario judge awarded an employee damages for being harassed. The tort of harassment has been recognized in Ontario but to my knowledge this is the first time an Ontario judge has ordered an employer to pay an employee…

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Are terminated employees entitled to their unpaid bonuses?

Nadia Halum — Mon, 30 Jan 2017 21:18:41 +0000

We have previously written about when employees have been found to be 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. Wrongful dismissal damages are intended to place the terminated employee in the same financial position they would have been in had such notice been…

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Damages for Reprisal under Occupational Health and Safety Act

Nadia Halum — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 19:25:33 +0000

It should be common knowledge that changes were made to the Occupational Health and Safety Act (“the OHSA”) that have been in effect since September 8, 2016 (and if it’s not common knowledge, you haven’t been reading our previous blogs on the subject). One of these changes allows employees who have been sexually harassed at work to file a complaint under the OHSA. Prior to September 8, 2016…

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Wrongful Dismissal Update: The Number of Damage Claims Being Awarded By Trial Judges are Going Up

Doug MacLeod — Tue, 17 Jan 2017 13:45:24 +0000

Once upon a time, employees did not sign employment contracts with termination clauses and employment lawyers fought over the appropriate “reasonable” notice period. In 2017, employees now often claim, among other things, wrongful dismissal damages, human rights damages, moral or Wallace damages, punitive damages, and damages for the intentional infliction of mental stress. By way of example…

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Investigating Workplace Harassment Complaints: Get Ready for Changes to the OHSA

Doug MacLeod — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 11:20:11 +0000

“Bob is harassing me.” Your spidey senses should be tingling. Because some kind of investigation should be taking place soon. If not, consider what happened when an employee at CBC complained about Jian Ghomeshi and was ignored or when an employee at the TO2015 Pan American games complained about David Peterson and her complaint was allegedly not taken seriously. Immediately after you are told…

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