How  a  former  employee  fought  for  his  rights

 This is a true story of a former employee who after being terminated, his former employer went out of her way to destroy him. I represented the former employee at two hearings as his friend. The names of the people and of the firm he worked for  in this story have been changed as the true names are not germane to the thrust of this article.

 John worked for ABC Limited as a technician in laser treatment for nine years both as one who gave the treatments to the firm’s clients and also as a teacher in laser treatment. Until the final month of his employment, his employer, Mrs. Brown was pleased with his work.

 However, John was not pleased with the manner in which he was being paid. Some of his pay cheques bounced and in the last month of his employment, he wasn’t given any pay at all which was supposed to be $800 a week.

 Mrs. Brown sent him a termination notice which told him that he had to be laid off because sales were down. John was asked to remain with the firm for another month and when he didn’t get paid for that month, he told his employer that he was going to file a complaint with the Ontario Department of Labour.

 His threat infuriated Mrs. Brown so when she mailed him his Employment Separation Form that he would have to give to the Employment Insurance Commission in order for him to collect his unemployment benefits, he discovered to his horror that she stated that he was fired for wilful misconduct. The misconduct alleged was that he was stealing business from the firm so that the firm’s customers would go to John’s wife’s firm where she was allegedly working as a laser technician.

 The allegation was totally false. First of all, he wasn’t stealing the firm’s customers so that they would go to the firm his wife worked for and secondly, his wife worked part-time for a firm that does hair transplants, not laser work of any kind. 

 Mrs. Brown offered evidence of her allegation to the Employment Insurance Commission stating by that she had brought in a secret buyer who during her treatment by John, he supposedly told her that she shouldn’t get treatment from Mrs. Brown’s firm but instead she should go to his wife’s firm.

 The officer in the Employment Commission believed John’s allegations and John was sent a letter from the Commission which stated;

 “We are writing you to inform you that we cannot pay you any employment insurance benefits because you lost your employment with ABC Limited due to your misconduct.”

 To add salt to his wounds, Mrs. Brown issued a Small Claims Court claim against John asking for $25,000 (the maximum that can be claimed in that court). In her claim, she stated that John had given unapproved laser procedures and violated the human rights and dignity of four of the firm’s customers. She also claimed that he was soliciting his own business from the firm and he had sold laser equipment to students for his own profit and he also slandered the name of the firm.

 It was just after he received that claim that he came to me for help. I drafted up his three-page defence denying Mrs. Brown’s allegations and further pointed out that the matter should be stayed because the law in Ontario states that until a complaint filed with the Ministry of Labour is concluded, the case couldn’t proceed until the  Ministry has concluded its own procedures. The judge who looked at the defence agreed and stayed the proceedings. The judge also  ordered that the court should inform John and Mrs. Brown of that judge’s order.

 John meanwhile had also filed an appeal with the Employment Insurance Commission and a date was set for his appeal which would be heard before a Board of Referees comprising of three persons.

 I prepared a nine-page argument as to how Mrs. Brown had lied and what her motive was and I brought it with me to the hearing before the Board of Referees.

 Mrs. Brown and her husband who is also the firm’s bookkeeper also attend the hearing. John and I listened to her give her oral evidence and during my cross examination of her, I got to her admit that the so-called secret buyer was actually one of her close friends.

 When it was time for me to make my argument, I purposely began reading my argument very slowly. The ploy worked. I was then asked to simply give the Board my nine-page argument.  This meant that the three members could study it at their own leisure which apparently they did.

 Two weeks later, we received their decision. The Board ruled that they didn`t believe the testimony of Mrs. Brown and that they did believe the testimony of John and as a result of that decision, he would receive his benefits from the time he filed his application for the benefits.

 John received a letter from the government stating that they will not appeal the Board of Referee`s decision and that they were now implementing the Board`s decision to send him his benefits.  

 Soon after that decision was made in John`s favour, I sent a copy of it to the Ministry of Labour and a week later, a hearing was scheduled.

 Mrs. Brown and her husband attend the hearing as well as John and me. Mrs. Brown began to explain to the hearing officer as to why she didn`t think he was entitled to severance pay. If a person is fired for disreputable conduct, that person is not entitled to severance pay.

 She didn`t get very far into her presentation because the Board member told her that since she had terminated him because of low sales prior to her filing her complaints about his so-called disreputable conduct, he was still entitled to his severance pay and any monies still owing to him for back pay.

 He then asked if there was any way the matter could be settled. I spoke to John outside the hearing room. I suggested that we ask for $500 over and above her offer. I told him that Mrs. Brown would agree and I pointed out that what he should really get from her was a good letter of reference otherwise he would have a hard time explaining where he worked for the previous nine years.

 When we returned to the hearing room, Mrs. Brown agreed to the amount we asked for and also agreed to give John a good reference letter. She did ask that the payment due to him be in two parts, the first payment be immediately and the second one a month later. We agreed as long as the cheques were certified. She agreed. She also agreed to withdraw her small claims court claim against John and John won’t sue her. By sending a copy of the settlement agreement to the small claims court, the court will automatically close the file. It was also agreed by both parties to the settlement agreement that neither party will bad mouth the other.

 Mrs. Brown gave John an extremely good reference. In her letter of reference she said ìn part; (remember that the names have been altered in this article)

 “This letter is to confirm that John Doe has been an employee of ABC Limited since 2003.

 “It is with pleasure that I recommend John Doe to you. His performance was highly regarded by both his clients and students of our firm. I have had the privilege to know John Doe on a professional and personal basis and highly recommend John to any company who will be fortunate enough to hire him.” unquote

 As you can really appreciate, having a good letter of reference is good way to go on the road to another job. I told John that it was better than having more money from the settlement. John agreed.

 When people settle their differences, they generally have to be willing to forfeit some of what they might otherwise be given if they proceeded further. John would have got more money if he hadn’t settled with Mrs. Brown. But by settling with her, he got what money otherwise couldn’t have gotten for him and that is a good letter of reference from his former employer.