Termination of an employee when a company is sold

[gargamel]

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

Wait what? You don't know the rules but you know for sure they can't?

Terminating your employment means that you can't work there any more. Terminating you means they're going to murder you.

Though I probably should have made it more clear that my post wasn't helpful in any way.

[onetwo_threefour]

Do not take Internet legal advice, except mine! ;-)

Employment standards code is a minimum. Do not make a claim through employment standards though or that's what you'll get. If you can't negotiate more on your own, hire a lawyer.

Main factors for common law determination of severance are:

Years of service
Level of responsibility
Age of employee
Difficulty of replacing the job for the employee


Those are the big ones but there can be literally dozens of factors to the determination. There is no set rule, a court will almost certainly award significantly more than the code.

Source: I've done a couple of these over the years although it is not my normal area of practice.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by oilyfan

That's usually only for management positions.

I got 8 months pay for 6 years of service at a company that I wouldn't exactly call loose with their money. If you tell your employer you would like to take some time to have your lawyer (you really should have one if you can afford it) look at their initial offer you have a good shot of getting offer 'B'. It's not a given you will get a better offer but it's the only way you are going to find out if they have one and there is always court which employers will usually try to avoid if they can.

[You Need a Thneed]

Can anyone find the actual legislation for the "special rules" when a company is sold?

I can't see them on the employment standards website.

[onetwo_threefour]

There are no specific rules with respect to severance per se, but you may want to look up "continuity of employment".

Basically, if a new company takes over your company in an asset purchase, you are entitled to severance if your job is terminated. However, if the new company offers you employment on substantially the same terms as your existing job, then there does not need to be severance paid.

"Upon receipt of an offer of employment from the buyer on substantially the same terms, an employee is expected to mitigate his or her losses by accepting the buyer's offer of employment. As such, vendors can reduce or obviate their obligation to pay severance to their employees by requiring the buyer, as part of the asset purchase agreement, to offer them employment on the same or better terms. In this scenario, buyers should be aware that unless there is an express agreement to the contrary, this means that the buyer inherits all of the obligations for the past service of the employees as well and should the buyer terminate the employment of any such employee in the future, the buyer's severance obligations will be based on the employee's full length of service with the business, and not from the day when the buyer acquired the business. To limit their future liability, buyers should seek advice about how to address these issues in the purchase agreement and employment offers, including negotiating an indemnity from the vendor if the deal is that the buyer will not inherit liability with respect to the past service of the employees with the vendor."

[socktape]

Originally Posted by onetwo_threefour

There are no specific rules with respect to severance per se, but you may want to look up "continuity of employment".

Basically, if a new company takes over your company in an asset purchase, you are entitled to severance if your job is terminated. However, if the new company offers you employment on substantially the same terms as your existing job, then there does not need to be severance paid.

this is what CNRL was famous for... they would keep the majority of the employees from a purchased company and just wait for them to quit so they didn't have to pay severance.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by socktape

this is what CNRL was famous for... they would keep the majority of the employees from a purchased company and just wait for them to quit so they didn't have to pay severance.

This makes sense though as the top half of the employees at any company are a pretty valuable asset. You don't just want to buy a company and terminate everyone.

[Five-hole]

I did some work with the interaction of just cause termination and the employment standards code this summer. What onetwo_threefour said is correct -- in Alberta the Code gives you 8 weeks based on your time with the company but that is a statutory minimum that does not reduce what you are entitled to under common law, which will be significantly higher depending on the factors 1234 listed above.