What do wrongful dismissal lawyers do?
According to a 2019 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) survey[1] of baby boomers, most individuals spend five years or less in a job. This works out to 12 or more job changes in a person’s career. And it is safe to say that many of these job changes are not anticipated and result from corporate lay-offs and terminations.
Job loss is not uncommon – however, if and/or when you find yourself on the receiving end of a termination notice, it is hard to know what to expect or do. And if you are an organization looking for guidance on dismissing one or more employees, it’s hard to know how to proceed in the best way possible.
Wrongful dismissal lawyers provide crucial support to employees and employers in Canada. Given that unfair termination is, unfortunately, very much a part of the modern workplace, knowing what redress and solutions are available is of critical importance.
Wrongful dismissal occurs when your employer dismisses you, without cause, but fails to provide adequate notice and consequently an inadequate severance package. Wrongful dismissals also occur in situations where your employer has not directly fired you, but they fail to comply with your contract of employment in a significant way or unilaterally and substantially change the terms of your employment (these wrongful dismissals are referred to as constructive dismissals/terminations).
When a wrongful dismissal happens, what options do you have and what can you do to ensure that you’re not left without a remedy? That’s when the support of wrongful dismissal lawyers can be useful.
Wrongful dismissal lawyers review your employment contracts
You may be wondering why contract reviews are important in instances where you’ve just been dismissed. The truth is that in certain cases, your employment agreement may cover remedies that are available to you in these situations.
Employment contracts are ‘pre-nuptial agreements’ in employment law because many employment contracts include termination clauses, which define (and sometimes) limit your legal remedies and termination compensation (i.e. severance package). Wrongful dismissal lawyers can scrutinize how the termination clause is constructed to determine whether it is enforceable.
Wrongful dismissal lawyers negotiate a better settlement for you
Whether or not your employment contract has a termination clause (and in situations where there is no employment contract at all), it’s important to ensure that the severance package you receive is fair and is reflective of your legal entitlements. But how do you determine your legal entitlements and how do you go about actually obtaining a better severance package.
This is another area where wrongful dismissal lawyers can support you.
A wrongful dismissal lawyer can put his/her knowledge to bear by determining what your legal entitlements are, and then going on to negotiate improvements to your severance package on your behalf.
At Advocation, our team has plenty of experience working with clients to negotiate improvements to their severance package. In certain cases, we’ve added more than $80,000 to the final settlement owed to our clients after they were wrongfully dismissed.
By seeking the support of lawyers with experience in this area, you ensure that you’re not left without any options if you’re dealing with the fallouts of job loss.
Seek the support of wrongful dismissal lawyers in Toronto for further guidance
At Advocation, our goal is to support you and ensure that you’re protected from unfair labour practices, including wrongful termination. Our team of lawyers is backed by years of experience and have the insight to consider your issues impartially and advise you on what courses of action are available to you, if any.Get in touch with our team of wrongful dismissal lawyers to find out more about what you can do to address wrongful termination in the workplace.
[1] https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/nlsoy.pdf