If you have been terminated from your position, you may be entitled to severance pay and/or a reasonable notice period.  The notice period depends on a number of factors including: (1) the wording of an employment agreement, if applicable (2) your length of service with your former employer (3) your age (4) your specialized skills (5) the overall economy (6) the presence of a disability (7) the nature of the position and (8) other factors.

Sometimes employers will terminate an employer for cause in an attempt to avoid giving the employee notice or severance. In those cases, the employer must prove cause and the standard of proof is high.

If the termination is done in a disrespectful manner, increased severance and possibly aggravated or punitive damages may be the result. We provide examples of wrongful dismissal cases we successfully resolved.

Our client, a non-union employee in a physical job was injured in a work injury. While she was disabled from work and rehabilitating herself, her employer terminated her employment. The employer had alleged that our client had abandoned her employment.

We sued on behalf and we negotiated a settlement in the amount of 18 months of severance for our client. The client returned to the workforce with a different employer once her disability period ended.

Our client, a senior executive for a manufacturing company was bullied by the CEO prior to being terminated. He was a called a series of unflattering names by the CEO prior to his termination being terminated for alleged cause. 

This case went to an arbitration hearing under the Employment Contract. We argued for double the amount of severance pay set out in the Employment Contract given the insulting comments were directed at our client. The employer argued that the comments were not part of the firing and so should not be used to consider the amount of severance.

We won this case and the arbitrator awarded double the severance pay set out in the Employment Contract as damages for the unflattering remarks that were found to be part of the termination. Cause was not established by the employer.