A consultation with a Severance Lawyer at McMahon Molyneaux Henriquez Labour & Employment Lawyers is a wise investment in your future as you transition to either a new position or embark on a new career entirely.
It is fair to say that losing your job—whether you were fired, let go, restructured, or downsized—can be a traumatic experience. But if you have been given a “severance package” there is value in meeting with a severance lawyer. Mainly, a severance lawyer can help you to make sure that what your employer is offering you in your package is at least the minimum that you are entitled to under Ontario’s employment laws.
Importantly, a Hamilton severance lawyer at McMahon Molyneaux Henriquez Labour & Employment Lawyers can be the “voice of reason” when you are being pressured by your former employer to “sign the severance package right away.”
In fact, employers often make it a condition of receiving any severance package that you sign and send back all documents first before receiving any money. Many employers do this and give former employees about one week to make a decision. When evaluating severance pay, time is not on the employee’s side. Once signed, the paperwork for a severance package becomes a legal and binding document, meaning it is very difficult to change after the fact.
Cool heads and the legal counsel at McMahon Molyneaux Henriquez labour & employment lawyers can help you evaluate your severance pay.
Hamilton Severance Lawyer Explains How Severance Pay Works in Ontario
Because the rules about severance pay are very complicated in Ontario, it is a very good idea to consult with a Hamilton severance lawyer at McMahon Molyneaux Henriquez Labour & Employment Law.
Often people use the term “severance package” or “severance pay” to describe an employer’s offer of payment following a person’s termination of employment. However, this can be a confusing topic of discussion since it confuses amounts that are owed to an employee following termination with “severance pay” which is a specific legal term under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act (ESA).
Under the ESA, severance pay is not the same thing as termination pay, which is also called “pay in lieu of notice.” Generally, speaking, when an individual’s employment is terminated in Ontario, they will be owed termination pay. This is a specified amount under the ESA that is owed to employees based on their length of service with their employer.
Severance pay, on the other hand, is a specific payment that is described in the ESA and that only some people get when they lose their jobs.
Together, severance pay and termination pay are two of the main entitlements of an employee following termination.
You will generally be entitled to severance pay only if you’ve worked at least 5 years for your employer and:
- Your employer has a payroll of at least $2.5 million a year, or
- At least 50 people will be losing their jobs within a 6-month period due to closures.
The basic rule for severance pay is one week’s pay for each year you worked for your employer. Employees can get severance pay for a maximum of 26 weeks. However, severance pay will not always be available to employees.
Unsure of the amount of your severance pay? Use the Ministry of Labour’s online Severance Pay Calculator to figure out, ballpark, how much severance pay you are entitled to.
Why You May Need a Hamilton Severance Lawyer
A Hamilton severance lawyer at McMahon Molyneaux Henriquez can help you navigate the various departments, the personnel changes over years and decades, software systems, inaccurate Human Resources records, honest mistakes, and the failings of human memory to ensure that you receive the best severance package possible.
More than one person has observed that with employers, their first offer in a severance package is not usually their best offer. It’s like buying a house or going to an auction: it’s the last offer that gets accepted.
You may be entitled to a severance package even if your employer is telling you that you were fired “for cause.” Upon a review from a Hamilton severance lawyer at McMahon Molyneaux Henriquez, you may learn that you were actually “wrongfully dismissed” or “constructively dismissed”; if this is the case, you may be entitled to more money.
Many employers do the right thing and offer a fair severance package to fired and terminated employees. If you feel that is not your situation, let a Hamilton severance lawyer at McMahon Molyneaux Henriquez help you. Protect yourself, protect the entitlements that are owing to you by Ontario law, and book a consultation with our lawyers now to review your “severance package.”
How a Hamilton Severance Lawyer Can Help You Negotiate Severance Pay
A Hamilton severance lawyer at McMahon Molyneaux Henriquez Labour & Employment Lawyers can help you negotiate severance pay because:
1. We know the amounts you are legally entitled to (amount of severance pay, notice pay, vacation pay, holiday pay, bonuses if any).
2. We have helped hundreds of fired and terminated employees negotiate fair severance pay in Hamilton and southwest Ontario. We can make helpful suggestions that you may not have thought of.
3. We help our clients resist the pressure exerted by companies that urge you to sign the severance pay “right now.” We offer practical legal advice.
Need a Hamilton severance lawyer? Contact us
If you have been presented with a severance package in Ontario, the Hamilton severance lawyers at McMahon Molyneaux Henriquez Labour & Employment Lawyers can help you:
1. Evaluate your current severance package.
2. Advise you if other money (vacation pay, holiday pay, bonuses) from your former employer or additional benefits (called “entitlements”) might be added to your severance package.
3. Negotiate these additional entitlements, either by negotiating on your behalf, or helping you to negotiate yourself, by telling you what to say and how to say it.
Contact one of our Hamilton severance lawyers today, to arrange a consultation.