No At-Will Employment in Canada

No At-Will Employment in CanadaAre you an employer with operations in both Canada & the US? This post is for you.

Contracts vs At-Will Employment

For our US readers, Canada does not have at-will employment. In Canada, employment relationships are governed by employment contracts, either written or implied, and various employment laws and regulations. Employers are generally required to provide reasonable notice or pay in lieu of notice when terminating an employee without cause.

For our Canadian readers, at-will employment is a term used in the United States to describe the employment relationship between an employer and an employee, where either party can terminate the employment at any time, with or without cause, and with or without notice. This means that an employer can fire an employee for any reason or no reason at all, as long as it is not for an illegal reason (such as discrimination). Similarly, an employee can quit their job at any time without providing a reason or notice.

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Softer Landings Save Time, Effort and Legal Fees for Employers and Employees

termination process and employee entitlementsMany HR professionals say the toughest part of their job is employee terminations. No surprise there, and it’s usually no day at the beach for the exiting employee either. Mapping out the termination process and employee entitlements in advance will reduce the sting of terminations for both sides. 

It Pays to be Nitpicky!

Another reason to have all ducks in a row: courts have awarded additional damages for aspects of the manner of dismissal that may seem a little nitpicky. A few examples: an employer’s failure to provide a written termination letter, late statutory payments, miscalculations in statutory amounts, and inaccurate ROEs. Courts have also called employers out for failing to explain an employee’s rights in a termination letter. All the more reason for employers to tighten up their termination process and termination letter template.

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4 Common Mistakes to Avoid with Fixed-Term Contracts

4 Common Mistakes to Avoid with Fixed-Term ContractsFixed-term or temporary employment contracts can be a useful tool for short-term employment such as temporary replacements for employees on leave, co-op students or employees performing work funded by a time-limited grant. When drafted and executed correctly, employment ends at the end of the fixed-term contract and no further termination entitlements are owed. 

However, when fixed-term contracts are misused, they can become very risky for employers. Below are four mistakes for employers to avoid when hiring on a fixed-term contract.

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An Employer’s Guide to Managing Employees with Progressive Discipline

An Employer’s Guide to Managing Employees with Progressive DisciplineIf you’re an employer, you know that, whether you have 10 employees or 100, there is an art to managing your workforce and a well-oiled human resource process is necessary for a well-run business. You invest a lot of time and money into your employees and, understandably, expect attendance, productivity, and proper work conduct in return that will benefit your business as a whole. 

If you have employees who aren’t meeting the expectations of their role, it’s important not to have a knee-jerk reaction. Instead, progressive discipline gives both the employer and employee the opportunity to get on the same page and provides the employee with a roadmap for improvement.

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Don’t Leave it to Luck: Update Employment Contracts Following Substantial Changes to the Job

Update Employment Contracts Following Substantial Changes to the JobWith St. Patrick’s Day having just passed, many of us start to bank on luck at this time of the year. While luck might get you to the end of the rainbow on some things, we wouldn’t recommend that you lean on luck when it comes to non-existent, outdated or incomplete employment contracts. 

The Consequences of Leaving it up to Luck

First, in case you’re new here or need a quick refresher, employment contracts are often recommended by lawyers and adopted by employers to bring a level of certainty to the employment relationship. Employment contracts can achieve a variety of things but generally, they set out the responsibilities and expectations of the employee and employer. If the employment relationship is bound by provincial employment standards legislation (it usually is), then the contract has to, at the very least, uphold the minimum standards of the applicable legislation. 

If your employment contract runs afoul of the applicable employment standards legislation by failing to uphold the minimum standards as required by the law, your contract could be deemed unenforceable. Contracts could also be found to be unenforceable if they fail to comply with the principles of contract law. 

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