Edo

Hi, I am asking this for a friend of mine.

So basically his canadian company brought him over from the UK and offered him a package that he couldn't resist. The told him they had a lot of work in the pipeline (engineering/construction) but about 14 months later they laid him off citing that they have run out of work. Although funnily enough the projects that he was on are still progressing in full swing. My friend was on a managerial position with them and he left a very good job in the UK to come over here and work for them.

He was approached by them online and he has all the evidence to prove that he never applied to his position himself. Just to mention that he had his own PR from a few years prior to moving to Canada but he never considered moving to Canada seriously cuz he had a very stable career in the UK. Getting PR was just part of his contingency plan. His Canadian company however didn't know that he had a PR when they approached him. They were going to apply for an LMO for him but when he told them he was a PR they were over the moon cuz it saved them a hell lot of time and effort as they wanted him to fill the role pretty quick.

My question is does he have any legal recourse to take against his company in this situation if he can prove to the court that the company misrepresented themselves to him at the time of hiring and hence dislodged him from a very settled life back home?

haggis88

A company did this to me too, except I didn't have PR

don't think there's much can be done legally...i just think they must be in a hell of a state financially if they've paid me the best part of $200,000 for less than 2 years of work...plus all the money they must have put into getting my LMO and the lawyers fees etc...hope they shut their doors completely soon

JonboyE

Surely it will depend on the terms of his contract?

My guess (I am not a lawyer) is that he would have to prove that the company knowingly misrepresented the work load to entice him to move. I have engineer clients in mining/construction who were up to their neck in work 18 months ago who are now playing golf everyday. It seems to be a feast or famine industry.

cbrown89

On what basis would he be able to take legal action? Ultimately it was his choice to move to Canada they didn't force him. Grass is always greener on the other side.

Aviator

If one applies the minimum, employment standards, so long as he was laid off accordingly, not much comeback. If one tries to apply common law, he may or may not have grounds. It depends on how the employment agreement was structured, conditions of any contract, losses he has sustained and may continue to sustain as a result of this, his age, his profession and future employability.

He should engage an employment lawyer. There is no way he should base his decision on what to do on an open forum. All the speculation under the sun will not make a difference.

It may be costly to pursue, especially if the employer has insurance and he has to foot the bill himself.

ann m

Has he received or signed off a final settlement package at this point? If not, I would potentially try and negotiate a better package.

One of our Directors was head-hunted for a position and made an offer she could not refuse. Completed a couple of projects for them and once they were done she was laid off. Was quite disgusted with the whole thing and let's just say she would not accept their first settlement offer!

But if he has already signed away all his claims against th company, I'm not really sure he has much recourse.

Steve_

Unless he's got a very strange contract clause I seriously doubt it, even in the UK, TUPE for example is only for a year and he was in Canada 14 months before the lay off.

Edo

The biggest loss that he has sustained is that he has lost his work permit to work in the UK because of being away from the country for so long (he is not a British national). He can't renew the same work permit anymore and hence doesn't have the option to return to UK anymore. And he says he made that quite clear to his Canadian employer at the negotiations stage.

Edo

He has been offered 4 weeks pay in return for singing the Full and Final Release and he hasn't accepted that. He said he tried to negotiate a better package which his employers plainly refused and since then have been trying to force him to sign the Full and Final Release document by applying various deadline tactics to pressure him.

JamesM

Where is he based?

If it is Ontario he should 110% sue or certainly bring in a lawyer if they bought him over.

The only red flag is suing could take over a year so he needs to intend on staying around.

He should engage a lawyer asap. His employer if they are a corporate will most likely increase their offer and offer an extra month or two once legal action is threatened.

4 weeks is a good offer for twelve months but if they bought him over and he has the email trail etc then he can mitigate for additional.

Aviator

Suggest he looks into common law settlements. I have seen some bizarre settlements under common law claims, enough to make us cough up $1000 a year for insurance to cover such eventualities.

Loss of status in another country is unlikely to achieve much, unless he was unable to legally work in Canada and could not return to the UK either, which it seems is not the case. He is free to seek employment elsewhere in Canada, so a lot hangs on how employable he is, the position (worker, executive etc), his age, the type of work etc.

If it were me, I would see a lawyer before doing anything to get guidance and help make an informed decision.

Edo

He is based in Alberta.

Edo

He has spoken to a couple of lawyers and they advised him that he would definitely get more than just 4 weeks package if he went to court. But like JamesM said the court process can take ages to get it to a resolution and on top of that he would be fighting as an individual against a big corporation who probably have their own lawyers experts in dealing with things like these day in and out.

If he involves a lawyer and the lawyer writes to them on his behalf, do you think they would be more responsive and could make an offer to settle this to avoid going to court? He seems quite short on money right now and doesn't want to spend too much on lawyer's hours so the sooner it gets resolved the better really.

Aviator

If it were me, I would get advice from lawyer on what to expect and then go to the employer with that as an expectation. Perhaps mention that after taking advice, he felt x would be an acceptable settlement that he could sign off on.

The other issue that would concern me, was would be how much involving lawyers and courts would affect my employability down the road with others.

Better to leave with a reasonable layoff package and a good reference in my view.

ann m

^^ This, +1

The time and aggrevation involved in fighting this for months would not, in my humble opinion, override the ability to quickly negotiate another week or two of pay and get it done!