Our Firm’s Practice – Handling Both Employees and Employers Seeking Damages For Wrongful Dismissal
You might be able to sue your employer for wrongful dismissal, if you were unexpectedly demoted or let go from your job. Our employment lawyers can advise you about the next action for you to take in order to protect your interests.
It is recommended that you seek assistance from an expert lawyer, if you are an employee considering about dismissing somebody. We can assist you to know your options and avoid a potential lawsuit.
We can help both an employee seeking damages for wrongful dismissal and the employer who is seeking to let go an employee. In whatever circumstance, we can help you so as to understand and protect your rights.
The real question is how much may you be able to recover from a wrongful dismissal? Usually the compensation will include the lost salary and benefits during the notice period, minus the severance pay or notice you may have received. You are expected to search for a new job after whichever employment dismissal and your efforts within this regard would be considered by the courts. If you earn money throughout the reasonable notice period, that amount would be deducted from whichever judgment for damages.
If you for example only received six weeks of notice prior to termination, and you were actually entitled to more notice, then a court can calculate that entitled time into the damages. The courts often award damages for vacation pay, stock options, moving expenses, bonuses as well as insurance, pension and medical plans.
You may be able to claim that you have been constructively dismissed and take legal action for wrongful dismissal, if in your case you status or duties are essentially changed. Constructive dismissal deals with issues of loss of job without getting dismissed or fired. It works this way: you were vice president of sales, but currently you are “special projects manager” in a closet near the mailroom. Employers might try this particular tactic so as to avoid a lawsuit, but you can still sue if your employer breaches whichever major terms of the employment relationship.
Based on all the circumstances of the employment relationship, it is actually up to the court to decide whether a fundamental change or breach has occurred. For example, there is no constructive dismissal if you were given reasonable notice that there will be a change to your job or status. If you think a breach has happened, you should immediately communicate to your employer that the change is not acceptable and attempt to negotiate a solution. Only then, if the matter is not solved, can you quit and start a wrongful dismissal action versus your employer. The court will take into account the circumstances surrounding the resignation when it considers damages. Nevertheless, if you continue to work under the new conditions, the courts would consider you to have accepted the new employment arrangement.
Changes within your employment that could constitute as constructive dismissal will include: change in job responsibility, demotion, withholding pay; forced leave of absence, hiring a replacement, abusive treatment; short-term lay off, forced transfer, reduced hours.
In some situations, the courts can compensate a terminated worker for damages associated to such things like an employer’s extreme behaviour resulting in mental distress, comprising loss of reputation, defamation, and even assault. You could be compensated if you left a prior employer at the insistence of the employer who dismissed you.
The amount of damages which can be given by a court depend on several factors which they cannot be generalized without knowing and taking into account the specifics of each case. Get in touch with us for a conference and know what your rights are as an employee. We would look at all factors of your complaint and determine if you have a constructive dismissal case.
Sam Shingal covers many subjects of relevance that reach across countless different fields. The legal industry is one of the more difficult industries to understand. Some more great information can be found at http://kingscountylawyers.ca/.
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