Ontario employment law is an area of the law that is always changing, complicated and with many different aspects and issues that come up for employment lawyers. While it is difficult to touch base on the often occurring employment law topics, this employment lawyer blog post will delve into some of the primary workplace disputes. In particular, this blog covers some of the topics you need to know about employment law.
Ontario Minimum Employment Standards Legislation
As an underlying (base floor) of provincial employment law, the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the “ESA“) sets out minimum labour or employment standards that apply to employees and employers that are provincially-regulated (that is, those that are not governed by federal employment law under the Canada Labour Code). For example, it establishes the following basic employment standards in Ontario workplaces:
- minimum wage
- minimum notice of termination (or termination pay)
- minimum severance pay
- minimum vacation pay
- job-protected leaves of absence (family leave, sick leave, pregnancy leave, parental leave, and so on).
It is important to understand that employees may actually be entitled to greater employment legal rights and protections than the minimum standards. Specifically, if the employer and employee have not signed an employment contract limiting or restricting their entitlements to only the minimums under the ESA, employees are protected by common law.
Ontario Common Law Employee Legal Rights
If employees have not restricted their legal rights to only minimum employment standards under the ESA by signing an employment contract, they are usually better off enforcing their employee rights under common law. While this covers all aspects of employment law, including an employer complying with their duty of good faith and fair dealing and their obligations under health and safety legislation and human rights law, the most important aspect is when it comes to termination of employment.
Unless there is a legally enforceable termination clause in an employment contract restricting an employee’s legal rights upon termination, an employer is required to provide an employee with prior notice of termination (or pay in lieu of notice of termination) under common law. Accordingly, instead of limiting their financial compensation in a severance package to basic employment standards under the ESA, an employee is entitled to receive their maximum severance pay based on the following factors:
- employee’s age
- employee’s years of service working for the same employer
- employee’s position (character of employment)
- availability of similar employment in view of economic conditions and the employee’s education and skillset
- disability or health issues
- pregnancy
- other relevant factors and considerations
As an example of the difference in an employee’s severance package following a wrongful dismissal claim, consider a 52-year-old individual who is terminated from their employment after 4 years as a Human Resources Manager. If they signed an employment contract with a termination clause limiting their severance package entitlements to basic standards under the ESA, they would only be entitled to 4 weeks of notice of termination (or termination pay) and benefits continuation. On the other hand, if there is no such employment contract termination clause, the employee would likely be entitled to a severance package of up to 6 months of compensation consisting of the employee’s salary, benefits, bonus, pension plan, and so on.
Human Rights Law
Under the Ontario Human Rights Code, employers must respect and ensure an employee’s human rights protections at the workplace. For instance, employers must ensure they do not discriminate against (treat differently or unequally) based on the following personal characteristics:
- Age
- Ancestry, colour, race
- Citizenship
- Ethnic origin
- Place of origin
- Creed
- Disability
- Family status
- Marital status (including single status)
- Gender identity, gender expression
- Receipt of public assistance (in housing only)
- Record of offences (in employment only)
- Sex (including pregnancy and breastfeeding)
- Sexual orientation
Additionally, employers must ensure they comply with their duty to accommodate under the Human Rights Code to the point of undue hardship, specifically when an employee requires support or assistance for their disability, family status or sex to enable them to do their job. This involves a procedural duty to accommodate an employee by inquiring and finding out information about an employee’s accommodation needs, as well as a substantive duty actually implement an accommodation plan with reasonable measures to assist the employee with their workplace needs.
Call an Ontario Employment Lawyer
If you are an employee in Ontario who believes you have a wrongful dismissal claim (or a constructive dismissal claim), please contact our Toronto wrongful dismissal claim lawyer to arrange a confidential consultation to review and better understand your employee rights and options, including pursuing a human rights claim while you negotiate your severance package. We are here to protect your employee rights and best interests. With our detailed employment contract review with an Ontario employment lawyer, you can invest in your future by protecting your rights if you are ever terminated from your employment, including to ensure you receive a fair severance package, deal with a wrongful dismissal claims or constructive dismissal claims.