Signing a New Employment Contract
When you get offered your dream job, the last thing many employees think about is reading the fine print of your employment contract. In fact, arguably the biggest mistake employees make is to quickly sign an employment contract. By “quickly,” this means without reviewing it carefully with an employment lawyer to understand what it says and how it will affect your employment rights and options. This is especially important for understanding (and negotiating) your entitlement to severance pay (severance package) when your employment is terminated, or what restrictions it will have should you decide to quit and work somewhere else in the future (e.g., non-competition agreements).
However, employees need to read every line of an employment contract carefully. Quite often, employment contracts can include detailed terms and conditions that could impact your career and personal life for years to come. Here are some of the common provisions and terms to take note of when looking over your employment contract:
- Termination: In most cases, employers will define what how much severance pay you will be provided if they terminate your employment “without cause”. With this issue, the bottom line is that an employer’s aim is to limit this amount as much as possible, including only providing the minimum standards required by the Ontario Employment Standards Act.
- Job Description: There needs to be a clear picture of what you will be doing in terms of work, in order to minimize the risk of future disputes involving an employer making undesirable changes to your job, or worst, terminating your employment alleging “just cause” without providing a severance package.
- Temporary Layoff: in the post-COVID-19 world, many employers are wary of economic disruptions to business operations, such as pandemic lockdowns. Therefore, many are including a section in employment contracts to allow a temporary layoff, where the employee is off work for a certain amount of time (e.g., 13 weeks) without pay. However, this is only legal if it complies with the requirements of the Employment Standards Act, 2000, so again reviewing this with an employment lawyer is important to avoid financial difficulties if your employer suddenly decides to put you on an unpaid temporary layoff without income for long periods of time.
- Compensation and Benefits: an employment lawyer will help ensure the employment contract includes specifics in terms of base pay, bonuses, pension plan benefits, health insurance coverage, and so on.
- Multiple Jobs: If you plan on having a second job, it is important to ensure the language of the employment contract does not prohibit you from doing so (and this can be buried in multiple sections of an employment contract!)
- Inventions and Copyrights: If you create something while working for your employer, your employer will likely state in the employment contract that it legally owns the intellectual property rights to that by having you legally transfer and waive your legal rights to such intellectual property developments. If you are already working on something, it is important to negotiate fair exemptions.
- Non-Solicitation and Non-Competition: The employment contract may seek to prohibit you from working with former clients and employees after you leave. It is important to ensure this provision only applies to a reasonable amount of time, scope and geographic territory (this is often a complicated discussion to have alone with an employer directly without the assistance of an employment lawyer).
Employers will often make employment contracts overly complicated or, at the very least, detailed and restrictive of employee rights, such as severance package. Reviewing an employment contract is incredibly important to ensure that the employment contract protects your rights and not just your employer’s rights. At Bune Law, an experienced employment lawyer can help you review your employment contract prior to signing (or after signing if the aim is to negotiate changes and improvements). For instance, an employment lawyer can help you figure out which additional terms to include and which provisions you should edit or remove altogether.
Signing Severance Package
Another mistake that employees make happens at the most desperate of times – termination of employment (wrongful dismissal).
No matter what industry you work in, your employer will likely ask you to sign severance package agreement when it terminates you from a position, including a full and final release. Why? Because once signed, it becomes a binding legal contract that would prohibit any employment-related lawsuits against the employer, such as a wrongful dismissal claim in order to receive a severance package, or pursuing a human rights complaint for discrimination.
Not Challenging Unfair Employee Performance Review or Discipline
Not all negative workplace criticism or performance reviews are unfair. However, occasionally an employee’s boss, manager or supervisor may use and rely on an unjust and unwarranted performance review to build a stronger case for terminating the employee’s job for just cause and avoiding having to pay severance package. In those cases, it is important to consider contesting an unfair performance review immediately if you disagree with its content. If not, leaving it undisputed in your employee file will allow an employer to use it to defend itself in a wrongful dismissal claim
In challenging a sham performance review, employees will generally advise they disagree with the fact and content of the performance review; provide their version of events and any context/mitigation circumstances; whether they believe performance standards or expectations were unreasonable; whether they were given a reasonable opportunity to meet performance standards or expectations; and any inconsistencies between an unfair performance review and previous evaluations or the company’s policies regarding performance reviews.
Suffering in Silence – Not Complaining about Workplace Harassment and Discrimination
An unfortunate part of some workplaces is workplace harassment and bullying of employees, often times based on prohibited human rights grounds, such as age, race, gender or disability. Generally, this include increasingly hostile, belittling and controlling behaviour, negative commentary or unprofessional and abusive outbursts that have no value in a workplace, such as swearing.
When experiencing bullying at work, it may seem as if there are no viable options for help, especially when the perpetrator happens to be your boss, manager or supervisor. However, employees experiencing workplace bullying do have legal rights on their side to protect them. At Bune Law, a workplace harassment lawyer can review your potential work bullying harassment claim, discuss your legal options and best ways to move forward in a way that meets your goals and needs.
Consult an Employment Lawyer to Review Your Employment Contract
Consulting a knowledgeable Toronto employment law attorney at important stages of your career, such as entering into a employment contract or severance package with your employer, can make a huge difference in protecting your legal rights.
An employment lawyer can give you advice regarding your agreement and help you determine if it is in your best interest to sign the agreement as-is, or handle any other workplace issue.
If you are an employer or employee, please contact Bune Law at 647-822-5492 arrange a consultation with an employment lawyer in the Toronto area, so that we can discuss your specific employment matter in detail, explain employment law as it applies to your situation, and then determine whether you need our assistance and how we can help.
If you have been fired from your job and feel you deserve fair compensation, call Bune Law for help. When you call, you will speak with an experienced employment lawyer assisting with severance package review and negotiation. Call today to learn about your legal rights.
Disclaimer: The content on this website and blog is not legal advice or legal opinion of any kind, and is only to provide general information. It is in no way particular to your individual case and should not be relied upon in any way. The outcome of a legal matter depends on its unique circumstances, and prior successes are not indicative of future results. No portion or use of this website or blog will establish a lawyer-client relationship with the author, this law firm or any related party. Should you require legal advice for your particular situation, please fill out the form below, or call 647-822-5492, to request an initial consultation.