Toronto Employment Lawyer

Common Employment Law Questions

Question:

If working in a salaried position and being in sales (during a time of low sales) can your employer "pull salary" away from you and place you solely on commission effective immediately, even if there is an employment contract signed stating the annual salary?

Answer:

Your employer cannot unilaterally change your compensation structure in a severe way. There are many cases that state going from salary to commission is a real and substantial change to your compensation such that you can consider this action as amounting to your dismissal. In other words, you can reject the change and look for other work or you may be able to simply leave and claim you were dismissed. You could then sue for damages for your economic losses while you are out of work.

As this area of the law is quite complex and your election is important, I would recommend meeting with an employment lawyer who can explain your rights to you in greater detail and build a strategy that best fits your particular situation.

For more information on constructive dismissal situations, like the one above, please see my free employment law advice page on constructive dismissal, here.

Daniel A. Lublin is a Toronto Employment Lawyer specializing in the law of wrongful and constructive dismissal. He can be reached at dan@toronto-employmentlawyer.com.

Cumulative changes amount to constructive dismissal

Daniel A. Lublin, Toronto Metro News
Wednesday, July 18 2006

"Not many men have both good fortune and good sense."
- Titus Livy

John-Louis Drapeau was the consummate company man.  But when his job was gradually eroded, his loyalty quickly turned to fury.  Believing that his demotion was tantamount to a dismissal, Drapeau fled and then proceeded to sue his ex-employer.  His beliefs were vindicated at trial.

While the law of constructive dismissal is fact driven, employees can glean valuable advice from this case:

• courts don't confine the doctrine of constructive dismissal to a single or readily identifiable change to an employee's job.
• when changes are imposed, not every employee can simply pack up and place a call to their lawyer.  The changes must be obvious, negative and substantial - and must be so in the eyes of the judge, not just the litigants.
• An employee who consents to or condones significant changes can cry foul if the aftermath proves less than desirable.  Some form of protest must be registered. 
• employees with valid grievances may even have to remain in the altered job or risk failing to mitigate damages.  In order to unavail employers of this defence, counsel should always be consulted.

Click here for the entire article "Cumulative Demotion leads to Success in Court"

Daniel A. Lublin is a Toronto Employment Lawyer specializing in the law of wrongful dismissal.  He can be reached at dan@toronto-employmentlawyer.com

Harassed Employees Have Options

The law now leans towards workers as harassed employees are no longer without a legal remedy.   

Workplace abuse may have been obvious but rarely did it amount to a paid vacation.

Employees faced with a workplace abuser used to visit their doctor for a prescription or a note requesting a leave of absence.  Except in extraordinary cases, employees were without a legal remedy, as courts had little, if any, appetite to walk into the workplace and order bosses to be nicer to their subordinates.  The reality for most: either leave - or lose - your job. 

But the abuser no longer gets to act with legal impunity.  Now, equipped with the knowledge that he or she can sue for significant damages, tormented employees call their employment lawyer.

Just as I discussed in my May 2, 2007 Metro News Column (read here) employees have options when it comes to an abusive boss:

-- Where abuse leaves an employee's job objectively intolerable, she should resign and sue for constructive dismissal, but only after first discussing the merits of your case with me.

-- Request that a workplace investigation be commenced to substantiate allegations of an abusive boss.

-- If there is a discriminatory motive, consider commencing a complaint at the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Employees no longer have to hide in a legal box, without recourse.  When it comes to an abusive boss, legal options do exist.