Temporary Layoff in Ontario – Can Employers Do This Legally?

Описание: Emily Kim, employment lawyer at Monkhouse Law Employment Lawyers, discusses temporary layoffs in Ontario:

Whether you can be temporarily laid off depends on the wording of your employment contract. While the Ontario Employment Standards Act discusses temporary layoffs, it does not grant employers an inherent right to impose them.

The agreement between the employee and the employer must actually permit employers to place workers on layoff. If there is nothing in your contract permitting the employer to put you on a layoff, then doing so would amount to a constructive dismissal.

Employers may have implied rights to place employees on layoffs even in cases where no layoff agreement exists in the contract. This could be for example where an employee has been laid off before in the past and accepted that layoff.

Even where the agreement allows employees to be placed on a layoff, that layoff cannot last forever. The ESA provides a time limit for that layoff. For example, if your layoff has lasted longer than 13 weeks, you may have grounds to claim that you have been terminated and then seek severance pay.

Cases have shown that employees may be entitled to damages for wrongful dismissal if temporary layoffs are imposed without contractual basis or clear understanding by the employee.

If you're being placed on a temporary layoff, you should speak to an employment lawyer to see if you are entitled to any damages.

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