How do I deal with a wrongful dismissal?
There is no question that job dismissals are difficult: they can cause mental, emotional, and financial stress for the individuals who have been dismissed and the loved ones who rely on them.
If you have been dismissed, you may wonder how to obtain compensation or relief from what you view as an unfair dismissal. You may also have questions about whether you’re being fairly compensated and receiving the right resources to search for new work. Iterate
This is where the support of an experienced employment lawyer comes in.
What constitutes wrongful dismissal?
Many people believe that wrongful dismissal occurs when an employee’s employment is terminated because of baseless allegations or where there’s no evidence supporting the decision to terminate the employee’s contract.
This is a mistaken belief.
An employer is entitled to permanently dismiss an employee, without cause, at any time and for any reason, provided that the employee receives proper notice of termination or payment in lieu of notice of termination (and therefore a proper severance package). Wrongful dismissal occurs when the employer dismisses an employee, without cause, but fails to provide adequate notice and consequently an inadequate severance package.
That said, for federally regulated employees who are governed by the Canada Labour Code, certain job dismissals must be based on bona fide business reasons. Where no reasons exist, the dismissal is deemed to be unjust and the employee may be entitled to reinstatement in their position or compensation or both.
How do you receive fair and adequate dismissal compensation?
Dismissal compensation (i.e. your severance package) is calculated using 4-main factors:
- the dismissed employee’s age;
- years of service;
- the position the employee held at dismissal; and
- the availability of new, comparable employment.
Together, these factors help to determine the appropriate termination notice period and hence severance package.
Nowadays, it’s likely that your employer has sought protections from the costly financial fallout of a wrongful dismissal complaint by including a termination clause in your employment contract. Employment contracts are ‘pre-nuptial agreements’ in employment law and termination clauses define and limit how much termination notice a dismissed employee is entitled to receive when his/her employment ends (thus limiting a wrongful dismissal complaint).
But the mere fact that there is a termination clause in your contract does not automatically mean that your notice period (and hence your severance package) is limited. How each clause is constructed (i.e. both written into the contract and how you were made aware of the clause) determine whether the termination clause should be taken into account when determining adequate dismissal compensation.
At Advocation, this is one area where we have extensive experience. We’ve worked with hundreds of clients to ensure that they don’t walk away empty-handed or leave significant amounts of compensation on the table when they find themselves made redundant from organisations, they’ve dedicated their lives to.
In many cases, we’ve added $50,000 to $80,000 to a client’s final settlement and in a number of cases, we have added much more.
Explore how Advocation can help you take action against wrongful dismissal
Here at Advocation, our team of trained employment lawyers have experience and knowledge in supporting employees who find themselves on the end of wrongful dismissals.
Leveraging our insights, we guide our clients toward the most suitable course of action – one that’s backed by the law and one that works best for each individual concerned. To find out how we can support you, get in touch with our team of lawyers today.