Fire Away

Frequently Asked Questions with A Canadian Business Owner/Employer • Fire Away S7E03

Stuart is joined by Mark Robins, a Canadian business owner and employer, to answer some frequently asked questions that are top of mind right now in Canadian employment law. 

Fire Away: Workplace TikTok trends from an employment law perspective.

Quiet quitting. Rage applying. You've heard them all - but what do these buzzwords mean, if anything, in a legal context? In this episode, Brittany Taylor and Geoffrey Lowe are explaining these trendy concepts from an employment law perspective. 

 

If you think you might need an employment lawyer, you probably do. Visit www.rudnerlaw.ca to learn more.

You’re Fired! The Webinar.

Originally presented on May 10th 2023

An overview of dismissals - with cause, without cause, and constructive - so you can understand your rights and adopt a strategic approach.

Topics include:

- Why are most termination clauses in employment contracts not worth the paper they are printed on?

- When can you "fire" someone for just cause?

- Is severance really a month of salary per year of service?

- Are you entitled to bonuses even after dismissal?

Dismissals remain the most misunderstood area of HR Law, and yet it is also the most dangerous. Getting it wrong can expose an organization to substantial liability and can cause someone to lose out on tens of thousands of dollars. Despite that, most people and organizations don't get proper advice, choosing to act before they understand their rights and obligations and costing themselves a lot by doing so.

We will explain how to assess severance obligations and post-termination entitlements, how to minimize termination costs, when just cause for dismissal exists, and how you can dismiss someone without meaning to by changing the terms of their employment. You will find out why we say that although the threshold is high, "just cause is not a lost cause".

Lastly, attendees will learn why we say that the majority of termination clauses in Ontario are unenforceable, and how to ensure that you can rely on yours.

www.rudnerlaw.ca

At what point is a contract ”frustrated”, and what does that mean?

In this update, Stuart talks about frustration of contract - and to be clear, that doesn’t mean someone is frustrated. Frustration of a contract occurs at law when the circumstances change and it becomes impossible to fulfill.

Pivot, pivot, PIVOT! How to make changes without risking constructive dismissal claims.

Remember that episode of Friends where Ross tries to move a couch up the stairs, and ends up screaming "pivot, pivot, pivot!" at Chandler and Rachel? That's become a frequently quoted scene. The HR world has become a big supporter of pivoting, and in this video, Nadia talks about how employers can pivot through changes, like the pandemic, without risking constructive dismissal claims.

Fire Away Q&A Series, Question 1: Temporary Layoffs

On August's episode of Fire Away, Stuart answered our viewers' top HR and employment law questions.

Question 1: is it okay to temporarily layoff full-time employees, or does it expose an employer to constructive dismissal claims?