Severance pay is determined by either the legislation or the common law.  The legislation dictates the minimum severance in Ontario amount you have to receive when you are terminated from your employment.  In order for you to be limited to what the legislation says, your employer has to have bound you to a contract that specifically says you only get what the legislation says and nothing further.  The law has set very specific standards for these contracts, so even if you think your employer has limited your entitlements in your contract, contact Ertl Lawyers, Ottawa employment lawyers, to have it reviewed.

The common law is when people have gone to court and a judge has determined what they are entitled to for a severance package.  The common law takes into consideration several factors that are specific to you to assist in determining how much you are owed.

Contact the Ottawa employment lawyers, Ertl Lawyers, to find out what your entitlements are, or how much you could potentially receive.  You can also visit our Severance Pay Calculator for an estimate.

Wrongful termination and wrongful dismissal cases mean the same thing.  It refers to when your employer has terminated you without cause and did not pay you a proper severance package.  The termination is “wrongful” because your employer did not pay you enough money in the severance package.  It does not have anything to do with the circumstances surrounding your dismissal.

The circumstances surrounding your dismissal only play a factor if you have been terminated for cause.

Usually, when you quit your job, you are not entitled to severance pay.  There are very few exceptions that would permit severance pay, but it depends on why you quit your employment.

An example of an exception would be if you quit because you were experiencing ongoing harassment from a co-worker.  You reported the harassment on multiple occasions to your employer and they failed to address it and it continued.  You might be entitled to severance pay in this situation.

Another situation where you might be entitled to severance pay would be if your employment immediately reduced your salary by half, you objected to the change and asked for your salary to be put back to its prior amount and your employer refused.  Resigning in this situation may entitle you to a severance package.

When you quit your job because you don’t like it anymore or you found a new job, you are not entitled to severance pay.

The reasons for your termination only matter if you were terminated for cause.  Your employer must provide you with an explanation of why they are letting you go in this instance.  There is a high burden of proof on your employer to successfully establish that there was cause to terminate you, which is why they have to tell you why.

You are not owed any sort of explanation if you are terminated without cause. This is because the reasons for why you were let go do not play any role in determining how much of a severance package you can receive.  For example, your employer could decide that because you are an Ottawa Senators fan and it is a Montreal Canadiens fan, you should be fired. Your employer has every right to fire you but they must pay you a severance package.

If you were terminated because of your religion, gender, age, family status, etc., then it matters because it could potentially be a violation of the Ontario Human Rights Code.

At Ertl Lawyers, our goal is to get you the severance you deserve.  We can help by reviewing your employment contract and severance packages to assess your potential severance entitlements.  We can also start with negotiating severance packages with your former employer and even start a claim for a wrongful dismissal with the court.  If you have a human rights complaint or a harassment and bullying issue, we can help with that too.

Contact us today to find out more about how Ertl Lawyers can help you.