Fredericton Wrongful Termination Lawyers

Losing your job without warning can be stressful and confusing, especially if your employer has failed to provide you with adequate notice or severance. In Fredericton, employees who are terminated without receiving appropriate notice or compensation, or who have been terminated in breach of their employment contract, may be entitled to seeking compensation for wrongful termination.

What is Wrongful Termination?

In New Brunswick, the Employment Standards Act (1973) provides a baseline of rights and protections that each employee in the province is entitled to. This legislation establishes minimum standards that employers are legally required to meet and follow, including but not limited to wages, hours, and leave provisions. These standards form the legal minimums, and may be lesser than what an employee may be entitled to under common law.

Wrongful termination is when an employer ends your employment without meeting their legal obligations, as outlined by these provincial acts. Commonly, this looks like an employer having failed to provide proper termination notice or severance pay in lieu.

Employees can wrongfully assume that wrongful termination has only occurred when there was no just cause for termination. In reality, however, employers are able to terminate without cause so long as they provide appropriate notice (based on continuous service length) or pay in lieu. Failing to meet this requirement means that the termination may have been wrongful, and you may be entitled to seeking compensation for damages.

Am I Ever Protected from Termination?

As set out in the Employment Standards Act, there are specific circumstances where employees are protected from termination. These include:

Workplace Safety or Injury Claim: Employees who are absent from work due to a workplace safety concern, or for a work related injury are typically protected from dismissal.
Protected Leaves of Absence: This includes leaves such as maternity or parental leave, as well as other statutory leaves such as jury duty. During these protected periods, employees are protected from dismissal.

Can I Sue for Wrongful Termination?

If you’ve been wrongfully terminated from your job, you may be entitled to bring a claim forward for wrongful termination. In New Brunswick, if an employer has failed to meet the minimum standards outlined by the common law principles and the provincial Employment Standards Act, you may have a case for wrongful termination and may be entitled to collecting damages.

Situations where you may be entitled to damages may include:

Insufficient notice or severance in lieu: if the dismissing employer fails to provide the minimum entitlements you are entitled under common law principles (which is typically higher than the provincial minimum standard).

Termination that is without just cause: If you have been terminated from your role, but the employer is unable to prove serious misconduct or theft.

Breach of employment contract: If your employer does not follow the termination terms of your employment contract.

Bad faith in dismissal: If you were treated unfairly, or unjustly during termination.

Retaliatory termination: If you were terminated in retaliation to an action such as filing a complaint, reporting a safety concern, or taking protected leave.

These situations may involve additional claims beyond wrongful dismissal, such as human rights complaints or violations of occupational health and safety legislation. If your termination involves additional factors such as these, seeking legal guidance can help you ensure you pursue the full compensation you may be entitled too.

What Damages Can I Claim?

Though most wrongful dismissal claims focus around making someone whole in providing adequate severance pay in lieu of notice, the total compensation you may be able to claim could be greater, depending on your situation. In New Brunswich, if you have been wrongfully terminated you may be able to claim for damages including:

Pay in lieu of reasonable notice: If you were not given proper notice for your termination, you may be able to claim compensations for lost salary or wages during the notice period.

Benefits and perks: You may also be eligible to recover the lost value of your benefits during the notice period. This may include for health and dental insurance, pension contributions, and car allowances or other employment perks or entitlements.

Bonuses, commissions, and incentives: If during the notice period it is reasonable for you to have collected bonuses, commissions, or extra monies, you may be able to claim for these losses.

Aggravated (moral) damages: Most typical when an employer has acted in bad faith during the termination process.

Punitive damages: Though rare, in extreme scenarios where an employer’s conduct was harsh, vindictive, or malicious in nature, damages may be collected as punishment.
Human rights damages: If your wrongful termination was also found to involve discrimination, you may be entitled to seeking additional damages for pain and suffering as well as lost wages.

If you are making a claim for wrongful termination, there are important limitations that you will need to consider for your claim. It’s vital to remember that you have a duty to mitigate your losses, any income earned during the notice period may reduce damages owed, and your employment contract may impact your entitlements.

What is the Minimum Notice Required?

In New Brunswick, the minimum termination notice periods are outlined by the Employment Standards Act. Under common law, however, you may be entitled to additional severance. Minimum notice periods in the province are:

Less than 6 months of service: no required notice.
6 months to less than 5 years of service: at least 2 weeks notice.
5 years or more: at least 4 weeks notice.

It’s important to remember that these are minimum standards as outlined by the province, and under common law you may be entitled to more notice (or severance pay in lieu). This can be influenced by factors like length of service, your age, the type of position you filled (seniority), and the local availability of similar employment roles.

Exceptions

There are some instances where statutory notice of termination may not be required. Situations that may be exempt from requiring minimum notice could include:

- Just cause dismissal: Such as instances of serious misconduct or theft by the employee. This may be disputable, depending on the severity and specifics of the situation.

Short service: The employee’s continuous service time did not meet the minimum requirement.

Temporary employees: Instances where an employee is hired as temporary or fixed-term may fall under this category.
Layoffs: In some special circumstances, layoffs within a sector may not require full statutory notice.

Severance Pay

Severance pay is compensation that an employer may owe an employee who was terminated without just cause. It is intended to help bridge the financial gap while the employee transitions to new employment following a termination, and is typically paid out in lieu of receiving termination notice.

Severance may be provided in several forms, including:

A lump-sum payment;
Salary continuance over a defined period;
Continuation of benefits over a set time;
Bonus or commission payments;
Any other negotiated compensations as outlined by the employment contract.

What is Common Law Reasonable Notice?

Common law reasonable notice refers to the amount of notice (or pay in lieu) that an employer may owe an employee when terminating them without just cause. Unlike statutory minimums, this entitlement is based on court decisions (judge-made law), rather than what’s outlined in legislation. It’s typical that common law reasonable notice can significantly increase the amount of severance that an employee may be entitled to.

Where the Employment Standards Act sets the minimum notice requirements for employers, common law reasonable notice often goes well beyond those minimums. Courts will look at individual situations, and include influential factors like:

The length of service;
Age of the employee;
The character of the employee (their role, seniority, and specialization of the role they filled);
Availability of similar employment for an employee with similar experience, qualifications, and current market conditions.

These factors, known as Bardal factors, are used to determine a fair notice period based on the individual circumstances of each case. Understanding how they apply can help ensure you receive the full severance you may be entitled to, speaking with legal counsel can ensure you get here.

How Long Do You Have to Bring a Wrongful Termination Claim?

In most cases, there is a two year limitation period to bring forward a wrongful termination claim in New Brunswick. This time limit is set out in the Limitation of Actions Act (2010), which governs time limits for legal action commencing in the province. As such, the act outlines when civil claims expire, which helps to ensure fairness and finality in all legal disputes.

The two year limitation period typically begins when the claim is discovered, meaning;

The date your employment ended (termination date), or;
The date you reasonably became aware that you suffered a loss as a result of the dismissal.

Why Acting Early Matters

Waiting too long to take action can negatively affect your wrongful termination claim. Delaying bringing your claim may:

Reduce your ability to collect strong evidence;
Lead to missing or incomplete documentation;
Weaken witness memory and credibility;
Weaken your position in negotiations.

Most importantly, if you miss the limitation deadline reporting period of two years, your claim may be permanently barred.

What to Do if You’ve Been Wrongfully Terminated

If you believe that you’ve been wrongfully terminated, taking early steps early can help strengthen your claim, and may make a significant difference in your overall severance package outcome.

Keep copies of important documents such as:

Termination letters;
Employment contracts;
Emails or any written communications with your employer;
Performance evaluations or reviews.

Avoid signing too quickly:

Employers may offer you a severance package that reflects only the minimum statutory entitlements. Accepting or signing these offers without thoroughly reviewing may limit your ability to pursue additional compensations you may be owed.

Seek legal guidance:

A legal professional can assess your situation, determine whether you have a claim for wrongful dismissal in New Brunswick, and advise you on whether you may be entitled to more than what your original severance package offer included.

How Can a Wrongful Termination Lawyer Help?

Working with an employment or wrongful termination lawyer can help you navigate complex legal terminology and better understand your options if you have been wrongfully dismissed. If needed, a wrongful termination lawyer can assist you in pursuing the compensation you may be entitled to.

A wrongful termination lawyer can help with:

Reviewing the circumstances of your dismissal to determine whether wrongful termination has occurred, and identifying any additional potential claims.
Examining your employment agreement, termination letter, and any relevant contractual provisions.
Negotiating a more favourable severance package.
Representing you in settlement discussions or, where necessary, through litigation in court.

Phone, Video, or in Person

Whether you prefer to speak by phone, connect over video, or meet in person, our team is available to discuss your potential wrongful termination claim. We’re eager to work collaboratively with you to help ensure you receive the compensation you’re entitled too, not just the legal minimum. Visit our Fredericton office and speak with a member of our team; lets see how we can help you with your claim

No Fees Until We’ve Won Your Case

Wrongful termination can have serious negative impacts on your life, and may place a significant financial strain on you and your family unexpectedly. Working with a trusted legal team, like our wrongful termination lawyers, can help to make sure you receive fair severance for your dismissal. With no upfront fees, we can get started on your claim right away.

You don’t pay unless we win your case. Wrongful termination is stressful; we keep it simple.

**Contact our Fredericton Wrongful Termination Lawyers Today for Your FREE Case Evaluation**

If you have been dismissed without adequate notice or receiving appropriate compensation, you may have a legal claim for damages. Our wrongful termination lawyers assist employees in New Brunswick and across the Atlantic provinces in understanding their employment rights, and can help determine whether a severance package truly reflects the compensation that you may be entitled to. Give us a call today, and speak with one of our wrongful termination lawyers; make sure that you’re getting the best severance package.