Drunken, heated argument about sugar daddies gets server fired — but leads to sweet payout By Liam Britten, British Columbia, CBC, November 22, 2019 KEL Partner Richard Johnson says he’s not surprised by a recent tribunal ruling that found a Vancouver restaurant did not have just cause when it fired a part-time server for her […]
Tag Archives | severance
December Dismissals: What are the Risks for Employers?
(Originally published 2015. Updated November 2019) Lawyer Richard Johnson, Contributor. As we’ve explained elsewhere in this blog, unless there is a termination clause in her employment contract, the amount of notice or severance a dismissed employee is entitled to depends on several factors, namely: The nature of her employment Her length of service Her age […]
Fairness and Transparency are Key When it Comes to Bonus Entitlements on Dismissal
By Wendy Woloshyn. What happens if an employee gets fired without cause before his or her bonus gets paid? What if the employment contract says that to receive the bonus, the employee must still be employed at the time it’s paid out? The answers might surprise you. Integral and Discretionary My colleague Richard Johnson has […]
Valle Torres: Revisiting Key Principles for Calculating Damages
By Erin Brandt. We have written previously about how severance pay will generally be calculated if an employee is dismissed from work, and the need to treat an employee fairly in the manner of dismissal. (In case you missed them, we’ve included links to these articles at the end of this post.) Another recent BC […]
Successful Defense Against Injunction Application 2018
Our clients’ former employer alleged that they had violated various duties they owed to the employer by starting and operating a competing business. The employer sought a court injunction to prevent our clients from continuing their business. We successfully defended our clients against this application as the judge declined to grant the injunction, in part […]
Postmedia’s Layoffs: Words to the Wise
By Fiona Anderson. As a former journalist, I can’t help but be mesmerized by the bloodletting that is happening at newspapers and television and radio stations across Canada. The only exception is the publicly funded Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Private companies need to make money to survive and, with advertisers now having their own advertising platforms […]
A Dismissed Employee’s Right to Notice or Severance: A Review of The Basics
By Samantha Stepney. Many employees who seek our advice following termination are surprised to learn that so long as their employer has not violated any human rights laws, the employee can be fired for any reason. If the reason amounts to “just cause” – which includes things like theft and insubordination – the employee is […]
Fixed-Term Employment: Manage the Risks and Respect Your Employees
Some employment contracts specify an end date, some don’t. Why do employers choose one or the other? At the end of the day, is there any difference?
Workations: A Path Towards Sustainable Employment?
Workations as a concept are nothing new. Employees, executives and business owners brought paperwork with them on holiday and maintained remote contact with the office long before we entered the Digital Age.
Probation: Why Bother?
We’ve weighed in previously on the issue of probationary employment and employers’ duties – and employees’ rights – in that context. A recent BC Supreme Court decision inspired us to consider the issue from a different perspective. Put simply: Are probationary periods necessary or advisable?
