Stick to the Program – BC Supreme Court awards discretionary bonus to terminated employee based on “reasonable expectations”

By Dallan Poulin on April 3, 2019 Posted in Canada

In Thoma v. Schaefer Elevator Components Inc., 2019 BCSC 100, Mr. Thoma’s employment contract allowed his employer, Schaefer Elevator, to terminate his employment without cause on six months’ notice by providing Mr. Thoma his “contractually agreed remuneration during the six months’ notice period.” Mr. Thoma claimed that this included payment of an annual bonus and that he was entitled to receive it. Schaefer Elevator terminated his employment without cause on October 31, 2017.

The employment contract provided that Mr. Thoma would receive an annual bonus of “up to” $24,000 per year, based upon “agreed upon targets” and his “degree … Continue Reading

Employee Rights on Redundancy – Avoiding Discrimination in Organizational Restructuring

By Michael Torrance on June 20, 2014 Posted in Canada, Discrimination and harassment

When job redundancies arise in an organization, whether as result of a merger, restructuring, or downsizing, employers need to remain aware of duties under human rights legislation, such as the Ontario Human Rights Code.

To meet these expectations, an employer’s decision regarding which employees will lose their jobs can not be tainted in any way by discriminatory decision-making. For example, if terminations are being decided on the basis of poor performance, it could be considered discriminatory if accommodated employees are included – where their lower performance is tied to their limitations due to disability. To ensure fairness and avoid … Continue Reading

Termination of an Employment Contract in China

By Grace Ye on September 2, 2013 Posted in Asia Pacific, China

PRC law has stringent restrictions on the termination of employment contracts. Generally, an employment contract can be terminated by mutual agreement between the employer and the employee. In the absence of the employee’s consent, PRC law provides very limited grounds for termination of an employment contract by the employer. There are two categories of statutory grounds for unilateral termination by the employer: (i) termination for cause, where the employer is entitled to terminate the contract without prior notice and without payment of severance pay to the employee; and (ii) termination without cause, where the employer must give 30 days’ prior … Continue Reading