Federally Regulated Employee severance pay
A lot of employees have a misconception about the severance pay they’re owed when their employer terminates them. While the one month’s notice or pay per year of service formula often applies in the provincial context, federally regulated workers are entitled to much more generous severance packages because of their unjust dismissal protection.
The Canadian Labour Code recently introduced amendments that significantly enhance an employee’s termination entitlements, including severance pay. If you are a Federally Regulated Employee, your employer should review and update its template employment agreements to ensure they remain in compliance with the new rules.
In addition to Federally Regulated Employee severance pay, telecommunication employees are also entitled to common law compensation, which is the amount of money they’d be owed if they were fired or laid off in a non-terminal context. The calculation for common law severance pay is complex and requires taking into account a range of factors, including the length of the contract of employment, the age of the employee, their position or job title, level of compensation, and availability of new work.
Are allowances part of Federally Regulated Employee severance pay?
When an employee is involuntarily separated from employment, he or she is owed a severance payment, plus any applicable vacation days and statutory holiday pay earned. In order to determine the amount of an employee’s severance pay, the agency must first record the number of weeks the individual has worked at the time of involuntary separation. It is then required to recompute the telecommunication employee severance pay allowance on the basis of all creditable service and current age, deducting from the total the number of weeks for which an individual has received severance pay in the past.
Federally Regulated Employees may be put on temporary layoffs, but they don’t have to accept them. If your employer attempts to implement a large modification to your position, such as a change in your schedule or a significant reduction in commission, you can refuse the changes and treat them as termination through constructive dismissal. This would allow you to pursue your full severance package.
For senior executives and long-term employees, severance packages may also include enhanced benefits, such as stock options, performance bonuses, or early retirement incentives. In cases of mergers or acquisitions, telecom companies often use severance packages as a tool to streamline the integration process, offering voluntary separation packages to employees willing to exit.
Outplacement services provide support such as resume building, interview coaching, and job search assistance tailored to the telecom industry. These services help employees identify transferable skills, explore new career paths, and potentially transition to roles in related fields like IT, software development, or network engineering.
If you’ve been laid off as part of a temporary layoff, speak to an experienced employment lawyer. We’ve helped many clients negotiate a full severance package after being temporarily laid off, as well as those who were dismissed for cause. We can help you understand the complexities of the law, calculate your severance pay and determine how much you’re owed. If you feel you’ve been unfairly dismissed from your job, the employment lawyers at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP can assist you in pursuing wrongful dismissal damages. Contact us today to get started.
