Chart Your Path Forward

Employment law is comprised of various rules and regulations that set out the rights of employees, and more specifically, governs the relationship between employees and their employer. These rules and regulations govern a variety of issues in the employment context, including but not limited to, limits on hours of work, severance pay, reasonable notice of termination, layoffs, maternity leave, disability, and the right to work free from discrimination and harassment, etc. 

These various rules and regulations come from two primary sources in Ontario: legislation and the common law. Legislation is written down and passed by the government in accordance with a specific legislative process and tends to be more stringent than the common law. The common law, in contrast, is a system of rules based on past judicial decisions (i.e. precedent), and tends to offer employees a more robust set of rights than Ontario's employment law statutes.

Consider the difference between the notice of termination provisions included in the Employment Standards Act, 2000 ("ESA") which is the primary statute that governs the employee and employer relationship in Ontario, and the notice of termination provisions available to an employee at common law. Under the ESA, an employee is entitled to a maximum of two (2) months notice of termination or pay in lieu thereof. In contrast, at common law an employee has the right of up to twenty-four (24) months notice of termination or pay in lieu thereof.

It is important to recognize that additional employee entitlements contained in the ESA, similar to the amount of reasonable notice an employee is entitled to upon termination "without cause" or payment in lieu thereof, are only minimum standards. This means that there may be additional entitlements available to you at common law that you are unaware of, and you do not have to sue your employer to get them. We can negotiate with your employer on your behalf!