Employment Lawyers in Calgary, Alberta

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If a union refuses to help an employee with an issue, or provides inadequate help, it might be a failure of the union’s “duty of fair representation” to the employee. An employment and labour lawyer can help you make a Labour Relations Board complaint or find another solution to this sort of problem.

Signing a release makes it much harder to successfully sue your employer, but it is possible in some cases such as where the severance is below the minimum amount allowed or the employer forces the employee to sign. Speak to an employment lawyer to understand if you can still sue in your specific case.

Your statutory termination pay is often only a fraction of the compensation you are entitled to under the law. It is important to review your severance package with an employment lawyer before you sign off on it because often times, the more an employer is pressuring you to sign off on it, the worse the offer actually is. Have a consultation with an employment lawyer to learn about your legal entitlements on termination, and whether the package offered to you measures up.

A demotion is often considered “constructive dismissal”, which is where an employee is allowed to resign and sue for severance as if he or she were dismissed. If your boss had demoted you, you should speak to an employment lawyer right away about your options.

Some employers have specific limitations imposed by the government, and they have to follow those. If your employer is allowed to be open, they are required to take steps to keep the workplace safe, like physical barriers, sanitization, masks policies, and distancing measures. If you are vulnerable to COVID because of age or other health reasons, your employer may need to go even further or may be required to allow you to stay home.

An employer is required to accommodate a disability. Even if there is a part of your job you can’t do, your employer is probably not allowed to fire you for that. You should speak to an employment lawyer right away to help you handle this.

If you have been sued, you need to speak to an employment lawyer immediately. You have a very short time to defend against any lawsuit, even you do not agree with anything stated in it. The good news is, often employers will have a tough time holding an employee liable in damages if the employee gets legal advice right away.

You should get legal advice before signing anything, especially an employment contract. Employment contracts can have a major impact on your rights, and the impact is not always obvious when you read through them.

Typical policies include an employee handbook that deals with things like values, compensation, vacation, harassment, drugs and alcohol, conflict of interest, confidentiality, discipline, etc. Every company has different needs, and an employment lawyer can help you sort this out.

Every employee has obligations to protect certain interests of their former employer, but certain management or client-facing employees, called “fiduciaries” have more substantial obligations. Usually these obligations include not soliciting former clients for a reasonable period of time after leaving, but usually you can compete. You could be personally liable if you are not careful with this, so you should speak to an employment lawyer first.

Employers sometimes try to get their employees to quit, because they want to get rid of that employee but they do not want to pay severance. However, depending on what is happening, it might be “constructive dismissal”, and you might still be entitled to severance if you quit. Speak to an employment lawyer for help.

In many cases an employer is still required to pay out the bonus after terminating your employment. You should speak to an employment lawyer to assess your specific situation and provide you advice.

Although the Employment Standards Code appears to allow this, some cases have found that an employer is not allowed to lay off an employee without pay, and that it counts as “constructive dismissal”, where the employee can quit and sue as if he or she were dismissed. Employers have strategies to improve the chances that a layoff will be allowed, so it is important that you get legal advice as soon as possible if you are given notice of a layoff.

In many cases, you can compete with your former employer after you leave. This depends partly on whether you have signed a non-competition agreement or non-solicitation agreement, and partly on the position you had with your former employer. Certain high-up positions or client-facing positions have some obligations after leaving an employer, even if they have not signed a non-compete or non-solicit. Even if you signed a non-compete or non-solicit, it might not be enforceable. A skilled and experienced employment lawyer can help you understand your rights on this.

If you have a complaint of professional misconduct against you, chances are your employment is in jeopardy and your professional college is investigating as well. You should speak to an employment lawyer right away to help you through this.

Severance is not the same for everyone, and it is determined on a case-by-case basis. The most common factors considered are age, years of service, and character of employment, but there are many other factors in different situations. It is worth speaking to an employment lawyer with skill and experience to identify the factors which help make the strongest severance argument in your case.

If your employer says it has just cause, usually there is still something you can do. Most misconduct is not just cause for dismissal, and even if the misconduct is fairly bad you have options and often will be able to get severance.

If you have a workplace complaint against you, you are required to cooperate with the investigation, but you still have rights. Speak with an employment lawyer to guide you through the process.

Usually non-unionized employees can be terminated without a reason, as long as the employer provides you notice or severance. However, sometimes the circumstances of how you were terminated is not allowed, and in the case of federally-regulated employees like pilots, telecommunications workers or bank employees, just cause is often required. Speak to an employment lawyer to understand if your termination was illegal and/or if you got enough severance.

An employer is required to accommodate your need to secure childcare for your child.  This is a complicated issue and not all cases are the same.  If this is happening at your workplace, speak to an employment lawyer right away for help.

An employer is generally allowed to terminate the employment of a pregnant employee, as long as the pregnancy is not a factor in the dismissal.  If pregnancy is a factor, the termination is a discriminatory human rights violation in Alberta. 

If you invented something and your employment was terminated, you may or may not be able to use it now.  Sometimes employers have rights to inventions made during your employment, especially where the invention relates to your former job with the employer.  Get legal help before deciding whether to use an invention.

Filing a workplace harassment complaint, or any complaint with human resources, can be dangerous and can backfire.  Regardless of what the workplace policy says, speak to an employment lawyer before filing a harassment complaint at work.

You should not sign a written warning if your employer is trying to get you to admit to something that did not happen.  Sometimes written warnings just ask for an acknowledgment by the employee that they were warned, and if that’s true then you may be obligated to sign the warning.  It is a good idea to always get legal advice before signing anything.

If an employee is terminated but has not accepted a severance offer, they do usually have an obligation to try to “mitigate” by looking for other work.  Potential job sites include Indeed, Workopolis, and Government of Alberta Job Board.

If an employer violates your privacy, you may have a variety of legal claims against them, but there is also some public information available at the website for the Alberta Information and Privacy Commissioner.

If your boss is asking you to do something unsafe at work, you may have a variety of legal claims against them, but there is also some public information available at the website for Alberta Occupational Health and Safety. 

An independent contractor is a worker for a company, but not an employee of that company.  Often, companies call workers “independent contractors” when those workers are actually employees and entitled to employee rights like severance.

Generally, if you work for only one company full-time, there is a strong chance that you are legally considered an employee, even if your written contract says you are a contractor.

Employers are allowed to manage their workforce, but they do not have unlimited rights to take things like sales territories away.  If this is happening, you may have a legal complaint for unpaid wages or constructive dismissal.

If you were dismissed for refusing to get COVID vaccinated, you may be entitled to severance if there is no just cause for dismissal.  Whether there is just cause will depend on your particular case, but relevant factors include whether you have a disability or religious exemption, whether you work remotely, and whether you work in a setting with people who are elderly or have compromised immune systems.

If you have received a cease and desist letter from your former employer about clients or working for a competitor, you need to get an employment lawyer immediately to talk about your rights and obligations and protect yourself from potential liability.

Your professional college is usually allowed to investigate you for professional misconduct, and you are generally required to cooperate with the investigation.  However, if you are under investigation you should get a lawyer as soon as possible to advise you and help you protect your rights and interests.

If your professional body finds you guilty of professional misconduct, you could be liable for a whole range of penalties, including a published decision, education courses, financial penalties like fines and having to pay the cost of the hearing, or even having your license suspended or revoked.  Often the penalty can be negotiated with the professional body.