Some time ago I wrote an article on probationary periods that you can find here. This following case is the perfect example of the dangers of probationary periods. If you want to read the case in it’s entirety you can read it here as a public document. It is contractual issue. Employers – you should have a probationary clause that is clear, unambiguous and you must ensure the employee understands it. You should also never agree to a contract until you get a signature on it. The case below is about a guy that claimed he was offered a job
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →What happens if a woman takes maternity leave, returns to work, and is then terminated soon after? Well, if you are reading this and you are an employer – you are probably trying to educate yourself on the issue. Let me help you – don’t mess around with employees coming back from mat leave. Talk to a lawyer. You are opening the evil door of exposure. An employee cannot be penalized because she plans to take or has taken a pregnancy and parental leave. This is a right that employees have in this province. If you tell and employee differently
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →I received a question from a client who owns a busy restaurant that concerned the maximum number of hours is employees can work in a week. He told me that his employees work an insane amount of hours during the summer with back-to-back shifts sometimes late into the night. He needed the help and they needed the money. Working in a restaurant can be great money for young students. He was concerned after a friend of his advised him that there was a maximum number of hours that employees can work in a day and week. He was afraid to
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →For employees working in the vast majority of industry in Ontario, the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 20001 governs the statutory entitlements to notice of termination. Section 57 of the Act provides for notice or pay in lieu of notice to be provided to an employee as follows: (a) at least one week before the termination, if the employee’s period of employment is less than one year; (b) at least two weeks before the termination, if the employee’s period of employment is one year or more and fewer than three years; (c) at least three weeks before the termination, if the
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →The Employment Standards Act sets the maximum number of hours in a work day and a work week in section 17. As an employer, you cannot require your employees to work more than 8 hours in a day and 48 hours in a work week. This is one area where the Employment Standards Act posts a maximum instead of minimum. An employer and employee can agree that the employee work an excess of the daily or weekly limit if they have both entered into an agreement, there is approval from the director of Employment Standards that applies to the employee
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →Yes and No. You can, if you want to get fined up the ying yang. But no, the law does not let an employees agree to any to waive or give up his or her rights under the employment standards act (for example, the right to receive overtime pay or public holiday pay). Any such agreement will be rendered null and void any any employment standards act officer and court. Don’t do this.
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →Often times employees don’t properly understand what severance is. Severance pay is not termination pay. Termination pay is given to the employee in place of the required notice of termination. So what is severance? Severance is a statutory term. Severance of employment occurs when the employer dismisses the employee, including an employee can no longer be employed due to the bankruptcy or insolvency of the employer. Severance occurs when an employee is laid off 35 or more weeks out of 52 weeks. Severance also occurs when the business closes permanently. To qualify for severance pay in Ontario, the employee must
TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE PLEASE CLICK HERE →I don’t know what it is with some employers that think they can just do what they want and bank on employees not consulting a lawyer. This week I again spoke to an employer that had terminated a woman because she was late for work to many times. The problem is that she was pregnant. During the meeting, we first established that yes, it was 2009 even my own mother would know not to do this. (yes, we have a long relationship so I can speak to him like this…) I then had to advise him of a few other
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Back to Basics: Record Keeping for employers
Employers: it is the law in Ontario that you are required to keep certain written records about each person that you hire. The employer must also ensure that the records are readily available for inspection. What must you keep? You must retain the employee’s name, address and starting date of employment for three years after the employee stopped working for you. You must keep the employee’s date of birth if the employee is a student under 18. This must be kept for either three years after the employee’s 18th birthday or three years after the employee stopped working for the