Employment relationships will have their ups and downs.  As an employee, when things at work start to sour, it’s important to be mindful of your specific situation. Sometimes issues come up that are isolated one-time events. However, sometimes, issues may be more persistent and long term and start taking a toll on your mental and physical well-being. These can include incidents of workplace harassment, bullying, mistreatment, or reprimands that may seem unjustified. Significant changes to your duties, hours, pay or bonus structure may come up as well. These are only a few examples of countless situations an employee may face.

One of the biggest enemies faced by employees in a difficult employment situation may not actually be their work environment itself.  It turns out, in many cases the biggest culprit is employee silence.

As I often advise my clients, the law comes down to proof—not necessarily truth.

Different parties to a legal dispute may have their own “version” of the truth.  This is why it’s very important to anticipate where a difficult situation may end up months or years down the road.

One thing that will remain certain is that in the heat of an employment dispute, parties will conveniently deny or “fail to remember” certain conversations, or the sequence of key events in the lead up to the problem.

Conversations and meetings to discuss various issues can be a great way to sort out problems but proving those conversations later on is never easy.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. The following are some tips to assist employees who are experiencing workplace difficulties to better prepare for future legal disputes that may arise.

1. Diarize Events: Keeping track of the dates, times and specific conversations that were had, is a great way to stay on top of key details which will be invaluable later on. Over the course of months or even years, having a notepad to go back to can be very helpful in providing key context that will assist you and your lawyer. Patterns may emerge that may become apparent over a longer period of time. Having these tracked is invaluable.

2. Confirm Concerns in Writing: Verbal conversations may seem like the natural solution to working out a problem. However, following up those conversations in writing is important to ensure that there is a record of what has transpired. Since key topics that might come up in conversations can be forgotten or denied later on, it’s very difficult for denials or memory lapses to be as persuasive when it’s confirmed in writing a short time after.  You will want to be as clear and specific as possible regarding your concerns. This can be invaluable later on. Your failure to express concerns in writing (even if discussed verbally) may still be interpreted by a court as if you had no concerns if it cannot be proven.

3. Don’t Silent Your Concerns for too long: Depending on the situation, the longer you wait before expressing your concerns, the more difficult it may be to correct the problem. For example, a significant change to an essential term of your employment that you waited too long to address may be seen as you having “accepted” the change.

4. Obtain Witness Support: If you are able to obtain previous or current employees or other staff involved to provide a letter to support your concern, that could assist with your burden of proof. For example, if a supervisor was allegedly mistreating you and another employee would be willing to provide a written statement to back up your claim, that could assist in making your case.

5. Print out E-mails: E-mails that you have sent or received can be helpful evidence to support your case. If you are able to forward key emails to yourself or print them out at work for your future reference, that could be very helpful, especially because you will lose access to your company e-mail at the end of your employment in case the dispute continues on past that point.

6. Respond to Written Reprimands: If you are provided with written warnings, or disciplinary letters that you don’t agree with, it will be very important to provide a written response as to why you do not agree with the characterization of the letter. Employers will often try and build a case up against employees to establish “just cause” for termination. Accusatory letters, sometimes unjustified may come along with that strategy. Having a thoughtful and clear response can help refute the employer’s attempt to build their case against you. In fact, it may actually help you build a case against them if need be.

Employment like anything else in life has its challenges. However, being equipped to deal with the challenges  properly when they arise is crucial.

At Hennick Law, we assist employees with navigating legal disputes.

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Losing a job is more than just about money. It’s also about self-worth and in many cases the loss of benefit continuance such as health insurance, life insurance and disability insurance.

On the one hand, terminated employees have understandable concerns about starting legal action against their former employers for fear of “burning bridges” in a “small world”. On the other hand, dismissed employees have to ensure that they get the fairest compensation package possible for the sake of them and their families.

While these concerns are very real, with many employment cases we handle, negotiating a termination package can be done in a way that would alleviate these concerns to prevent “burned bridges” and “hard feelings” from holding a terminated employee’s  future hostage.

Firstly, hiring a lawyer to handle the negotiation is always advisable. As the saying goes, when you represent yourself, you have a fool for a client. Hiring a lawyer enables the lawyer to deal directly with the company or its lawyer(s). This can reduce the emotional toll knowing you have someone in your corner who understands the process and who can advocate for you.

Secondly, as part of any deal, requesting a positive reference letter  and funding for outplacement employment services are some helpful ways to ensure that even after the legal process has concluded, a positive reference letter and access to career development services can be used to assist with career transition.

In addition, all full and final settlements often have confidentiality clauses inserted in them which would prevent either party from discussing or disclosing the details of the case with others (including future or prospective employers). This is a good way to ensure that once a matter is closed, employees can move on without having this “legal cloud” hanging over their head. For example, former employees would not need to worry about prior employers divulging the details of their legal battle to a future or prospective employer as doing so would be an invitation for legal action.

Remember, as a terminated employee, standing up for your legal rights and being on good terms with your former employer don’t always have to be at odds. However, sometimes, bridges will be burned.  When that happens, just ask yourself  whether the bridge was already burned anyway after you were terminated.

Regardless, if done properly, even a hotly contested employment dispute can be wrapped up in a way that ensures you get the compensation you deserve and land the future job you want without going down with the smouldering bridge.

The post THE FEAR OF“BURNING BRIDGES” WITH FORMER EMPLOYERS IS A BAD REASON TO GIVE UP WHAT YOU’RE OWED ON TERMINATION: appeared first on Hennick Law.

Terminated employees often feel the immediate pressure and anxiety of having to continue to support their family into an uncertain future. The responsibility of paying for mounting bills and expenses doesn’t stop just because you lost your job. Often times, the health and medical benefit plans dismissed employees had with their employers are discontinued soon after their termination leaving them and their families to fend for themselves financially.

These medical benefits may be relied upon quite heavily by family members including sick or disabled children or spouses who depend on this coverage for drugs, treatment and other non-OHIP covered therapies.

If you have been recently terminated, so many questions may be running through your mind. For example, what if you’re too old and out of practice to compete with younger more energetic people in a competitive job market? What if the economy is too slow for you to obtain that high-level role you just held for years? As an example, being terminated in the midst of the COVID-19 Global Pandemic can mean that you may be off work for a very long time.

To add insult to injury, employers will often do everything in their power to pay you a time limited severance offer that in actuality may be much less than what you would be entitled to at law. You of course may see this as an opportunity to take much needed money. However, accepting this offer quickly and signing off on the severance package without seeking legal advice can be one of your greatest mistakes.

Even worse, sometimes employers will offer nothing alleging that they had “just cause” to fire you. Don’t let them persuade you that you have no rights. Alleging “just cause” is a very difficult thing to prove in most cases.

The importance of obtaining legal advice cannot be understated. Once you sign off on any severance, you will surrender your legal rights to pursue a claim against your employer in the future once you realize that you may have been entitled to a lot more money.

For a reasonable charge, an employment lawyer can thoroughly review your employment agreement, as well as your severance offer and provide advice as to whether the severance package or termination is fair or not. In some cases, people are offered a small fraction of what they are actually entitled to and this legal review can be well worth it for that alone.

Working with an employment lawyer to review your severance package, negotiate a fair deal or pursue a legal claim on your behalf can be very helpful in getting the money you are owed.

The majority of terminated employees will sign off on a severance offer without seeking legal advice. They assume their former employers are being honest with them and telling them that what is offered is fair and legal. In most cases, it’s just not.

If you have any questions about your employment termination or severance package, contact us and we will be pleased to discuss your situation further

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