According to Canadian legal experts, depending on the phrasing of employee contracts and whether Canadian employees are given enough notice or severance pay, Twitter’s global layoffs could be illegal under Canadian and Ontario law.
According to internal plans examined by Reuters this week, Musk is seeking to lay off 3,700 Twitter employees, or almost half the workforce, as he tries to reduce expenses and enforce a strict new work culture.
According to the Canadian Press, Twitter’s head of public policy for the United States and Canada, Michele Austin, and managing director of the company’s Canadian operations, Paul Burns, made their retirement announcements on social media on Friday.
Twitter is being questioned about possible labour law violations during the layoffs.
While an employer always has the right to terminate an employee if proper notice or severance is given.
Depending on the function and experience of the employee, notice and severance will differ. A worker being laid off in bulk is different. In general, layoffs are governed by the employment contract and layoff clauses will appear in contracts where layoffs are more likely, for example, the auto industry. Otherwise, says Muneeza Sheikh, a lawyer and senior partner at Levitt Sheikh, an employment and labour law firm in Toronto, “the right to layoff is not automatic.
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“What a lot of employers don’t know, and I’m hoping Twitter knows, is that ultimately, in order to render a lawful layoff, you have to have an employment contract or agreement that gives you as an employer the right to layoff,” said Sheikh.
Waheeda Ekhlas Smith, the founder of Toronto-based Smith Employment Law, claims she is unsure if Twitter gave advance notice of the impending mass layoffs because “it seems to have happened out of the blue.” However, there are termination guidelines in the Canada Labour Code that employers of firms like Twitter must be aware of.
According to Smith, breaking any of these regulations would be against Canadian law.
If there is a straightforward termination, the Canadian employees’ only point of contention would be whether or not the severance package is adequate. Sheikh said.
Paid verification? READ MORE Elon Musk floats idea in 1st week as Twitter owner Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, a law firm, explains on its website that “in Ontario, severance pay is a minimum of one week’s pay after three months of employment, up to a maximum of 24 months’ pay for a full severance package.
The Employment Standards Act (ESA) of Ontario and our common law judicial system were used to determine this figure.
According to Smith, depending on how long the employees have worked there, they may be entitled to more than the required minimum, maybe several months.
Twitter is already facing a proposed class action lawsuit claiming the layoffs are imminent and will violate U. S. and California laws if employees are not given advance notice or severance pay.
There haven’t yet been any rumours of a comparable complaint from Canadian employees.
However, Smith says there are legal remedies available, and it all relies on how the layoffs are handled.
People who are affected should first seek legal counsel, she advised. “The kind of advice they might be getting often starts with a demand letter from an employment lawyer to Twitter Canada.
“Based on the analysis of the facts by the employee’s attorney, a demand letter may be addressed to the employer requesting that appropriate severance be granted.
People may choose to submit a statement of claim for a wrongful dismissal case if the employer does not respond in a manner that is acceptable to them, according to Smith. using materials from The Canadian Press and Reuters.
Could Elon Musk’s Twitter layoffs violate Canadian law? Experts comment
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