Whether you’re an employer or an employee, there may be many reasons to seek professional advice when dealing with employment law and issues in the workplace.
Covering a wide range of issues and able to answer virtually any question you might have about employment law, an employment lawyer in Alberta can prove invaluable to both employers and employees and, in many instances, can save them from unnecessary costs, hassle, and stress.
Here are some common workplace scenarios in which an employment lawyer’s assistance could prove highly beneficial:
Safety and compliance
Every employer must provide a workplace that’s safe and fulfill their duty as a responsible employer by putting policies and programs in place to stop violence and harassment in the workplace.
Injuries to employees while at work can be catastrophic for both parties, and assistance from an employment lawyer can help employees navigate the claims process of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and assist employers in facilitating the injured employee’s return to work without discriminating against them.
Reviewing employment contracts
Setting out the core aspects of an individual’s employment, such as wages and benefits, job duties, and hours of work, employment contracts also contain conditions surrounding certain actions that employers can take, such as laying someone off or giving them a probationary period.
Changing often, the area of the law surrounding employment contracts and how they are interpreted can catch many employers out, making regular reviews of contracts with an employment lawyer essential to ensure they’re legally binding.
Termination letters and exit agreements
Reviewing these documents makes up a high percentage of an employment lawyer’s work, and although employers aren’t required by law to serve them to employees who are leaving, most do so in the hope that things can be resolved amicably.
While severance packages are often offered to terminated employees (whatever the reason for their termination), they typically involve monetary compensation and almost always fall short of what the law actually entitles an employee to. For employees wanting to be compensated adequately for their termination, an employment lawyer’s help might be needed.
Human rights violations and unlawful discrimination
Ranging from sexist or racist harassment to discrimination based upon age, disability, or religion, workplace discrimination and violations of human rights are frequently experienced by employees in the workplace.
Representing their clients from the start of a human rights complaint to the end, employment lawyers can prove vital in helping employees seek appropriate damages for such violations or in helping employers create workplaces free from all forms of discrimination.
Wrongful dismissal
If an employee is terminated without cause, they must be given appropriate notice by their employer or be paid severance equivalent to the notice period.
A wrongful dismissal in Alberta occurs when an employee doesn’t receive appropriate notice or severance and can arise following a dismissal without just cause. In such instances, cases can rest on having access to the right legal information, which, in most cases, neither employers nor employees have unless they hire an experienced employment lawyer.
Whether you choose to hire an employment lawyer is, of course, entirely up to you, but without their expert guidance, both employers and employees caught up in the scenarios outlined above will likely struggle to protect themselves adequately.
