jimf

Just received a job offer which looks quite good in terms of salary and relocation allowance.

There is an employment contract to sign, most of which looks pretty standard. However, a couple of items make me pause to consider possible implications.

• Termination - appears to allow employer to terminate employment without "just cause" with 4 weeks notice (increasing with length of service) and employee shall have no further claims against the employer etc
• Independent legal advice - employee acknowledges they were encouraged to obatain independent legal advice... employee further declares they have either obtained or is waiving their right to such advice

Contract is 6 pages long and other items such as confidentiality, intellectual property, non-solicitation all look okay.

The terminatation clause looks like they have much more freedom to terminate
employment than the UK where redundancy laws would be relevent. Maybe that just reflects a more "hire and fire" culture?

The legal advice clause makes me wonder if they have put something in which a canadian lawyer would spot as unduely onerous. Not being in Canada I dont have particularly straightforward access to canadian legal advice right now.

It would be very interesting to hear of your opinions and experiences on these sorts of issues.

JonboyE

The four weeks notice of termination is quite generous. You would need to work for four complete years with an employer in BC to earn that.

As for the reference to a lawyer, there could be something dodgy in there. More likely so you can't subsequently claim that you didn't understand what you were signing. Often confidentiality, intellectual property and non-solicitation clauses are very important to the employer but they are notoriously difficult to enforce.

Rich_007

Yes. Amongst other things. See also management retardation, backstabbing, nepotism, bias, favouritism, bitchiness, clique-y-ness, face fit/not fit, use-and-abuse culture, etc. Visualize 1960's England, or the management of your local market slipper stall for a clue.

Canadian Employment Law 101.

R.

l i s a

• Termination - appears to allow employer to terminate employment without "just cause" with 4 weeks notice (increasing with length of service) and employee shall have no further claims against the employer etc
• Independent legal advice - employee acknowledges they were encouraged to obatain independent legal advice... employee further declares they have either obtained or is waiving their right to such advice

OH had this (without just cause, no further claims etc.) in his original contract. He didn't like the look of it so consulted a lawyer who saw no problem with it. However, OH chose to challenge it - re-wrote a lot of the contract himself and the employer accepted.

If you are not happy then there is no harm in asking to amend it. If they won't then they won't then you have to decide if you are happy to sign. hth

montreal mike

You say there is an employment contract to sign, most of which looks pretty standard but a couple of items make you pause to consider possible implications. So in regard to termination it appears to allow the employer to terminate employment without "just cause" with 4 weeks notice (increasing with length of service) and the employee shall have no further claims against the employer etc.

Frankly this is academic anyways since you can be fired at their whim. Next week, next year, ten years hence, whatever. You can always dream in technicolour of suing but the contract explicitly points out what might happen. You can try to negotiate a package if you are dumped but a months notice is what you agreed to. I do not think this is exactly generous.

As for independent legal advice - employee acknowledges he was encouraged to obtain independent legal advice... employee further declares they have either obtained or is waiving their right to such advice. It is obvious they are 'begging' you to get legal advice. So go see a labour lawyer and spend a few hundred bucks. Do get professional advice. Otherwise you will sign and may live to regret it.

It seems to me the company is doing its utmost to protect itself. So should you!

PS .. you can always demand they delete these clauses. Depends how badly you need the job and how keen they are on you.