A common misconception among both employers and employees is that anyone who is fired from his or her job in Ontario is entitled to severance pay; that simply is not the case. However, saying that a dismissed employee is not necessarily entitled to “severance” pay does not mean that the employee is not entitled to anything. What employees are entitled to varies.
Can someone who gets fired shortly after returning from maternity leave receive Employment Insurance (EI) benefits?
The short answer is currently “no.” Although the answer depends on how long after returning to work the employee finds herself suddenly unemployed. (While it is legally permissible for men to take parental leave and while it is possible for those men to lose their job shortly after doing so, the reality is that this situation is far more common for women than it is for men. While the law is gender neutral and men can be effected by this law in the same way that women are, this post will be written from the perspective of new mothers.)
Is having the flu a “disability” under the Ontario Human Rights Code? According to a decision from the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the body responsible for enforcing Ontario’s Human Rights Code, the answer is no.
In order to receive an award of wrongful dismissal damages, a dismissed employee must prove that he or she suffered damages as a result of his or her dismissal from employment. While that statement of law may seem simple and straightforward, it was the primary reason the Ontario Divisional Court set aside a $21,475 Small Claims judgment in a recent decision: Garcia v. 1162540 Ontario Inc., 2013 ONSC 6574 (CanLII)
On January 29, 2013, the law blog for the suddenly unemployed was re-branded “Labour Pains: an employment law blog for employers and employees.” For those who are interested and for those who will permit me a bit of self-indulgence, here are the hows and whys behind the name change.
