The minimum amount of severance pay that your employer has to pay you when you are terminated without cause is set by the legislation.  However, you may be entitled to more than the legislative minimum amounts under the common law.  The common law is how a judge would evaluate your entitlements for severance when you are terminated without cause.  The common law severance entitlements tend to be more than what the legislation says you are owed.

In order to determine if you are entitled to more than the legislative severance pay amounts, employment lawyers will ask to review your employment contract.  Your employment contract will often set out some information about what you can expect if you are ever terminated.

Contact Ertl Lawyers, St. Catharine’s employment lawyers, to have your employment contract and severance package reviewed before you sign anything related to your termination.  Ertl Lawyers offers a free phone consultation.

If you quit your job because you no longer want to work there or you got a new job, then you are not entitled to severance pay.

Quitting your job means that you are deciding to leave and your employer does not owe you anything for this decision.  You are only entitled to severance pay if you resign under very specific circumstances.  For example, you might be entitled to severance if you quit because you were experiencing ongoing harassment that you reported to the company and it was permitted to continue.

Ertl Lawyers would, however, recommend that you contact experienced St. Catharines employment lawyers prior to resigning if you are experiencing ongoing harassment at work to help you determine the best course of action.

Your employer might provide you with a specific reason about why you are being terminated or they may just say they are choosing to part ways with you and keep it general.  The reason why they have decided to terminate you does not usually matter.

If you were terminated for cause, meaning your employer is saying you did something wrong and therefore not offering you a severance package, then your employer must tell you the reasons why you are being terminated.  Since the threshold to terminate an employee for cause is high, it is important to know what the reasoning is in the event that the reason does not meet the high threshold and you are actually entitled to a severance package.

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

Ertl Lawyers strives to get you the severance package you deserve.  We offer a variety of employment law services such as review of employment contracts, severance package review, negotiating a better severance package or assistance with human rights issues in the workplace.

If you are an employer looking for help, Ertl Lawyers offers services such as drafting employment contracts, assisting with terminating employees, defending claims or complaints and drafting and/or implementing workplace policies.  David Ertl of Ertl Lawyers is also certified in workplace investigations.

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