Ottawa, Canada’s capital city, is an exciting and growing city in Ontario. With many tourist attractions such as Parliament Hill, national museums and the Rideau Canal, this means that Ottawa offers a wide variety of employment opportunities.
Ottawa offers employees work in industries such as tourism and hospitality, sales, finance, business and administrative work. Ottawa is also home to trades, transportation and labour jobs, as well as education, government and healthcare fields. Ottawa’s employment market is constantly growing and changing.
If you live or work in Ottawa and are facing issues with your employment, whether it be a constructive dismissal, harassment and bullying in the workplace, or you’ve just received a severance package and you are not sure what to do, the lawyers at Ertl Lawyers are here to help.
If you need employment lawyers in Ottawa, Ertl Lawyers is here for you.
Who We Are: Ottawa Employment Lawyers
Ertl Lawyers employment law firm is a leading employment and disability law firm practicing in Ontario, including Ottawa.
We’ve helped thousands of clients get the severance pay and disability benefits they deserve.
Our mission as employment and disability lawyers in Toronto and Ontario has always been about better, faster results.
Learn more about us by visiting our team page.
What We Do: Employment Law
Here at Ertl Lawyers, our employment lawyers in Toronto and Ontario have developed experience in addressing a large variety of employment law issues. These employment law issues include wrongful terminations, termination with cause, or harassment in the workplace. Our lawyers also can help employers looking for guidance on how to terminate an employee or how to implement a new policy. If you need help with your employment law issue, and you work in Ottawa, contact Ertl Lawyers for a free phone consultation.
Ertl Lawyers has experience in a variety of cases including, but not limited to, the following areas:
Termination of Employment
Termination of employment can encompass a variety of situations. Most commonly, we find employees are terminated without cause, meaning that the termination is no fault of their own. If this is the case, then you are entitled to notice of your employment termination or pay in lieu of that notice. You might also be entitled to severance pay depending on your case. An example of a termination without cause would be a company restructuring.
If you have found yourself terminated without cause, your employer has probably offered you a severance package. This severance package is likely to consist of notice of pay in lieu of notice, severance pay, if applicable, plus other compensation that you would receive only if you signed a release. If this has happened to you, contact Ertl Lawyers for a free phone consultation to discuss what options you might have to increase the severance package or alter its terms. There is a chance you might be entitled to more than what the company has offered you.
Check out our Severance Calculator to see what your severance package entitlements could be.
Termination with Cause
If you have been terminated with cause, this means that your employer is terminating your employment because of something that it believes is your fault. In a termination for cause situation, your employer does not have to provide you or offer you a severance package.
There are a variety of reasons an employer attempts to rely on to terminate employees for cause but may not necessarily be cause in the eyes of the law. Some examples include theft or fraud, dishonesty or lying to your employer during an investigation, insubordination, gross incompetence, habitual neglect of duty, unauthorized absences, breaches of your employer’s policies or assaulting a co-worker.
If your employer has terminated you for cause, don’t give up. You might still be entitled to severance and you should contact an employment lawyer.
Contact the Ottawa employment lawyers at Ertl Lawyers for more information or visit our Terminated with Cause webpage to learn more.
Constructive Dismissal
Constructive dismissal is a specific term in employment law that refers to a situation where your employer decides to make unilateral changes to the fundamental aspects of your employment. This means your employer has changed your job without giving you proper, advance warning, or pay in lieu of warning, or without getting your permission to make the changes.
Another way in which you can be constructively dismissed from your employment occurs you’re your work environment has become so toxic that is it impossible for you to continue to work. Examples of this type of constructive dismissal include, ongoing harassment for which you have complained with no assistance from your employer.
If you believe that you have experienced constructive dismissal, or you want more information to see if your situation qualifies you for a constructive dismissal claim in Ontario, contact the Ottawa lawyers, Ertl Lawyers, for a free phone consultation to learn more, or visit our webpage on Constructive Dismissal for more information.
Ertl Lawyers: Ottawa Employment Lawyers
If you want more information about Ertl Lawyers, including what we do, who we are and how we can help, visit our Employment Law webpage. We provide in depth information for your Ottawa employment law issues. We also offer a free consultation over the phone if you would prefer to speak to someone directly.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much severance pay am I entitled to?
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.
What is wrongful termination or wrongful dismissal?
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.
Am I entitled to severance pay if I quit my employment?
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.
Does the reason for my termination matter?
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.
How can the employment lawyers at Ertl Lawyers help me?
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.
Ertl Lawyers has the answers to all of your employment law questions. We offer free guides that you can download yourself on topics such as, Understanding My Severance Package, Help! I Have Been Fired With Cause, Constructive Dismissal and Workplace Discrimination and Harassment.
Ertl Lawyers also has a YouTube Channel. David Ertl, Ottawa Employment Lawyer, and owner/found of Ertl Lawyers, provides explanations on topics such as how age affects your severance package, what happens to your pension when you are terminated, signs that your performance improvement plan is a sham and many more areas of interest.
You can also contact us for a free consultation over the phone. We will arrange for you to speak with an experienced employment lawyer who can provide you with information that relates to your specific case. The employment lawyers at Ertl Lawyers will take the time to review your case, assess your options and lay out the best course of action for you.
Example Cases Won by Ertl Lawyers: Ottawa Employment Lawyers
At Ertl Lawyers, we have helped clients just like you. In Patterson v. IBM Canada Limited, 2017 ONSC 1264 (CanLII), David Ertl was able to obtain an award of 18 months of severance pay and benefits for Mr. Patterson after he was terminated from IBM.
In Drysdale v. Panasonic Canada Inc., 2015 68678 (CanLII), David Ertl of Ertl Lawyers, represented an employee who was terminated from Panasonic. David was able to get his client, a warehouse employee, 22 months of severance.
Whereas the vast majority of matters are settled without having to go to court, it is David’s experience and willingness to “go the distance” that convinces employers to provide better severance packages, faster.
Interested in learning more about Ertl Lawyers, Ottawa employment lawyers, cases? Visit David Ertl’s biography webpage to find more.
Reviews: Ertl Lawyers, Ottawa Employment Lawyers
We know reviews are important in helping you decide whether or not Ertl Lawyers is the law firm for you. We have an entire section on our website dedicated to client reviews. Learn what others in Ottawa have said about us.
Related Blog Posts
Videos: David Ertl, Ottawa Employment Lawyer
How Much Severance Am I Entitled To?
PIP SHAM
How is Severance Pay Taxed ?
Contact Us: Employment Lawyers, Ottawa
Do you live in Ottawa? Do you travel to or do you work in Ottawa? Are you in need of expert help regarding your employment? Contact Ertl Lawyers, experienced employment lawyers in Ottawa for help.
Our help can make all the difference.