Question 1

How do I get started?

Accepted Answer

Call us or fill out the form and tell us what happened. The first consultation is free. We read your intake before we talk, so the call is about your situation and your options, not paperwork. You leave it knowing where you stand and what we would do next.

Question 2

What happens during the consultation?

Accepted Answer

We go through what happened, what you may be owed, and how we would handle it. Your lawyer has already read your intake, so there is no starting from scratch. By the end you will know whether you have a case worth pursuing and what the next step is. There is no pressure to sign up on the spot.

Question 3

Is the first consultation really free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The first call costs nothing whether or not you hire us. We use it to figure out if you have a case. If you do not, we will say so. If you do, we will explain how it works from there.

Question 4

Do I need a lawyer, or can I handle this myself?

Accepted Answer

You can deal with an employer yourself. The hard part is knowing the right number, and employers count on you not knowing it. The value of a lawyer is usually the gap between what you are offered and what you are owed, which tends to be wide. The first call is free, so you can find out before you decide.

Question 5

Can I have my consultation in Farsi?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Amir Mirza is fluent in Farsi and works with Farsi-speaking clients regularly. Your consultation and your case can be handled in Farsi.

Question 6

Do I have to come into your office?

Accepted Answer

No. We are in Toronto and most of the work happens by phone, email, and video, so you can do this from anywhere in Ontario. Federally regulated employees we help across Canada. If meeting in person is easier for you, we can arrange it.

Question 7

How much does it cost to hire you?

Accepted Answer

For most cases, nothing up front. We work on contingency, so our fee comes out of what we recover for you, and we are paid only when you are. No retainer, no hourly billing, no bill arriving while your case runs. The first consultation is free, and we go through the numbers before you commit.

Question 8

What does contingency mean?

Accepted Answer

It means you do not pay out of pocket. Our fee is a share of what we recover, taken from the settlement or award at the end. If there is no recovery, you do not owe a fee. You are never paying a lawyer while you are already out of work.

Question 9

Are there any upfront costs?

Accepted Answer

For a contingency case, no. No retainer, no hourly charges, nothing to get started. The first consultation is free. We explain the whole arrangement on that first call, so there are no surprises later.

Question 10

What if I just want my contract or offer reviewed before I sign?

Accepted Answer

That is what the free consultation is for. Bring the contract or the offer and we will look at it, tell you what it really does, and flag anything that could cost you down the road. You do not need an open case or a fee arrangement to get a read on what you are signing.

Question 11

When and how do you get paid?

Accepted Answer

At the end, out of what we recover. Once your case settles or is decided, our agreed share comes off the recovery, so it is handled in one place rather than billed to you along the way. You see the full breakdown before anything is finalized.

Question 12

How long does an employment case take?

Accepted Answer

It depends on the case and whether it settles. Many severance matters resolve in a few months, once the right number is on the table, without ever going to court. Others take longer if they have to be pushed. We will give you a realistic timeline for your situation and keep things moving.

Question 13

Will I have to go to court?

Accepted Answer

Usually not. Most employment cases settle through negotiation, not a courtroom. We prepare every case as if it could go the distance, because that is what brings a serious offer, but the large majority resolve before trial. If yours needs to go further, we handle that too.

Question 14

Who handles my case?

Accepted Answer

Your lawyer, from start to finish. You are not passed off to an assistant for the parts that matter. The person who reviews your case is the person who runs it.

Question 15

How quickly will I hear back?

Accepted Answer

Within one business day. If you call or email, you get a response, not silence. Being left wondering where your case stands is its own kind of stress, and we do not work that way.

Question 16

What do you need from me to get started?

Accepted Answer

Whatever you have. Your termination letter or severance offer, your employment contract if there is one, and a short account of what happened. If pieces are missing, we will tell you what actually matters. You do not need it all perfectly organized to have the first conversation.

Question 17

What if I have already signed something?

Accepted Answer

It may still be worth a look. Signing a release usually ends a claim, but not always. If it paid below the legal minimum, or you were pressured into it, the deal can come apart. Bring it in and we will tell you honestly whether there is anything left to pursue.

Question 18

How much severance am I owed in Ontario?

Accepted Answer

Almost always more than you were offered. There's no formula, no rule like one week per year. It comes down to three things: your age, your job, and how long you worked there, and it's measured in months, not weeks. It also isn't just your salary. Bonus, commission, benefits, and pension all count. Most offers shortchange you on both.

Question 19

They gave me working notice instead of a payout. Does that count?

Accepted Answer

It counts, but it rarely covers everything. When your employer makes you work through a notice period, that time gets credited toward your severance. The problem is they usually give less notice than you're owed. If you're owed eight months and work six, that six counts, and you're still owed the other two. Always worth checking the math.

Question 20

My offer says it follows the Employment Standards Act. Isn't that the law?

Accepted Answer

That's the floor, not the ceiling. The Act sets the least an employer can pay. Most people are owed much more on top of it. Whether you get the bigger number usually comes down to the fine print in your contract, and if any part of that termination wording is written wrong, the limit falls away and you're owed the full amount. That clause is the first thing we check.

Question 21

I was fired for cause. Am I owed anything?

Accepted Answer

Usually, yes. "For cause" means no severance, but the bar is very high: serious misconduct, not a missed target or a failed review. Employers know that and still use the label hoping you'll accept it. The real question isn't whether you did something wrong. It's whether it was bad enough to wipe out your severance. Most of the time it isn't.

Question 22

I'm a contractor. Do I get severance?

Accepted Answer

Maybe, and more often than employers admit. What your contract calls you doesn't decide it, how you actually worked does. If you worked mostly for one company, on their schedule, using their tools, the law may treat you as an employee no matter what you invoiced. The years you spent labelled a contractor still count.

Question 23

I'm part-time, at a small company, or federally regulated. Do I even get severance?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Part-time, small company, federally regulated, none of it changes anything. Severance is based on you, your age, your job, and how long you were there, not the size or type of your employer. These myths cost people months of pay every year. If that's the reason you were told no, it's worth a second look.

Question 24

My company said they were restructuring, or something like that. Am I still owed anything?

Accepted Answer

Usually, yes. Wrongful dismissal has nothing to do with why they let you go. Your employer is allowed to restructure or downsize. What they're not allowed to do is underpay your severance when they do it. So "it was just a restructuring" doesn't close the door. The only thing that matters is whether the number matches what you're owed, and most don't.

Question 25

I quit, or they pushed me to resign. Do I still have a claim?

Accepted Answer

You might. If your employer pushed you out, cut your pay, or made the job impossible to stay in, the law can treat that as a firing even though you left. That's constructive dismissal, and it still pays severance. Quit in the heat of the moment? You can usually take it back within a day or two. And resigning to protect your reputation rarely helps. There's no record of why you left that a future employer sees, so quitting before they fire you often just gives away money you were owed.

Question 26

I was fired while on medical leave or disability. What now?

Accepted Answer

Being on leave doesn't remove your rights, it can add to them. An employer can't fire you for being sick or on a medical leave. If they do, that's a human rights violation, and that money sits on top of your severance. Your time on leave still counts toward how long you worked there. And if you're too sick to go back, your disability claim may be worth more than the severance, so the order you handle them in matters. We do both employment and disability, so when a firing and a denied benefit are tangled together, we look at them as one.

Question 27

I was put on a temporary layoff. Is that allowed?

Accepted Answer

Usually not. Your employer can only lay you off without pay if your contract clearly allows it or you agreed to it. Do it anyway and the law normally treats it like a firing, which means you can claim full severance instead of waiting on a recall that may never come. A slow-season layoff is still a layoff. If you were put on an unpaid layoff you never signed up for, you may already be let go in the eyes of the law.

Question 28

Do I have to sign by the deadline in my offer?

Accepted Answer

No. The deadline is the employer's, not the law's. Your rights don't expire when it passes. The only real clock is the two-year limit to start a claim in Ontario. So take the time to have the numbers checked first. If your deadline is days away, a review can usually be turned around fast, often the same day.

Question 29

The Ministry of Labour told me my offer is fine. Can I trust that?

Accepted Answer

No. They only enforce the legal minimum, which is usually a fraction of what you're owed. And there's a catch most people don't know: filing a complaint with the Ministry can cost you the right to claim the full amount in court. The official-looking route is often the one that quietly costs you the most.

Question 30

What if I already signed a release?

Accepted Answer

Usually that ends it, and courts hold people to what they signed. But not always. If the deal paid less than the legal minimum, if you were pressured into it, or if the terms were wildly one-sided, it may not hold. Narrow, but not impossible. If you signed fast or under pressure, it's worth a look.

Question 31

They already deposited some money. If I take it, did I accept it?

Accepted Answer

No. Money they paid you or dropped into your account is yours to keep, and taking it doesn't mean you accepted it as the final number. You can use it and still claim the rest. The only thing that ends your claim is signing the release. So cash the cheque if you need it, just don't sign anything yet.

Question 32

How long do I actually have to do something?

Accepted Answer

Two years from your last day. That's the real deadline in Ontario, not the one printed on the offer. After that, the claim is generally gone, no matter how strong it was or how little you were paid. There's no rush to sign, but there is a clock, and it's the one worth watching.

Question 33

Can I negotiate my severance?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and employers expect it. The first offer is usually the lowest number they think they can get away with. What moves it is a credible case for the real number, backed by the law and a clear willingness to pursue it. Most severance gets settled this way, without anyone going near a courtroom.

Question 34

Does severance affect my EI?

Accepted Answer

It affects when EI starts, not whether you get it. Apply right away, applying never signs away your claim. Your severance gets spread over the weeks after you leave, so EI kicks in once that runs out. And if your Record of Employment wrongly says you were fired for cause and it's blocking your EI, that can usually be fixed.

Question 35

Does looking for a new job affect my severance?

Accepted Answer

You're expected to look, and looking helps, it never hurts. Money you earn at a new job during the notice period usually gets subtracted from what your old employer owes, but trying to find work never weakens your claim. Keep a simple record of where you applied. Employers raise this in almost every negotiation, and a paper trail shuts it down.

Question 36

How much does a severance review cost?

Accepted Answer

Nothing. We look at your termination letter, your offer, and your contract, and tell you where you stand and whether there's more on the table. If you want us to take it further, you'll know exactly what that costs before any work starts.

Question 37

What is wrongful dismissal, exactly?

Accepted Answer

It's simpler than it sounds. You were wrongfully dismissed if your employer let you go without paying the severance you're actually owed. That's it. It has nothing to do with whether they were cruel or unfair about it. If the package fell short of what the law says you should get, the dismissal was wrongful, even if everything else was polite.

Question 38

They had a good reason. Can it still be wrongful dismissal?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The reason almost never matters. Your employer can let you go in a restructuring, a slowdown, or for no reason at all, and it's still legal, as long as they pay proper severance. What makes it wrongful isn't why they did it. It's that the cheque was too small. So "they had their reasons" doesn't mean you have no claim.

Question 39

They never actually fired me, they just stopped giving me shifts. Was I dismissed?

Accepted Answer

Probably. An employer can't dodge severance by quietly cutting off your work and never saying the word "fired." If the shifts dry up and you're effectively out of a job, the law can treat that as a termination. You don't have to wait for a formal letter that may never come. If the work stopped, you may already be owed severance.

Question 40

A job offer was pulled before I even started. Do I have a claim?

Accepted Answer

You might. If you accepted a job, maybe quit your old one, and they yanked the offer before day one, that can still be a dismissal in the eyes of the law. You agreed to a deal and they broke it after you relied on it. Depending on the details, you could be owed compensation even though you never worked a single shift.

Question 41

I was let go while on medical leave or disability. What now?

Accepted Answer

Being on leave doesn't remove your rights, it can add to them. An employer can't fire you for being sick or on a medical leave. If they do, that's a human rights violation, and that money sits on top of your severance. Your time on leave still counts toward how long you worked there. And if you're too sick to go back, your disability claim may be worth more than the severance, so the order you handle them in matters. We do both employment and disability, so when a firing and a denied benefit are tangled together, we look at them as one.

Question 42

How much is a wrongful dismissal claim worth?

Accepted Answer

Almost always more than you'd guess, and more than they offered. It's based on your age, your job, and how long you worked there, measured in months, not weeks. There's no week-per-year rule. Bonus, commission, benefits, and pension count too. Most people are owed several times what the first offer puts on the table.

Question 43

What has to be in the package, not just my salary?

Accepted Answer

Everything that was actually part of your pay. Bonus, commission, car allowance, benefits, pension or RRSP match, all of it counts toward your severance, not just base salary. Employers routinely calculate on salary alone and leave the rest off. If your real income was more than your paycheque, your severance should reflect that.

Question 44

Isn't the Employment Standards Act minimum all I'm owed?

Accepted Answer

No. That's the floor, not the number. The Act sets the least an employer can pay. On top of it sits the common law amount, which is usually much higher. Whether you get it often comes down to the fine print in your contract. The minimum is where the conversation starts, not where it ends.

Question 45

The company is closing or going under. Do I still get severance?

Accepted Answer

Usually, yes. A company shutting down or struggling financially still owes you full severance. Being short on money is not a defence. The one real exception is formal bankruptcy, where there may be little left to pay from. So "we're closing" or "we can't afford it" doesn't erase what you're owed. It's worth checking whether there's still a claim worth pursuing.

Question 46

How long do I have to make a claim?

Accepted Answer

Two years from your last day. After that, the claim is generally gone, no matter how strong it was. That's the real deadline in Ontario, not the one on the offer. People lose real money by sitting on it. There's no need to rush a signature, but don't let the two years quietly run out.

Question 47

Do I have to sign by the deadline on the offer?

Accepted Answer

No. That deadline is the employer's, not the law's. Your rights don't vanish when it passes. It's there to get your signature before you get advice. Take the time to have the numbers checked. A review can usually be done quickly, often the same day if you're close to their cutoff.

Question 48

Can I handle it myself?

Accepted Answer

You can, but it's easy to leave money behind. The hardest part is knowing the right number to ask for, and employers count on you not knowing it. A claim that looks simple often isn't once benefits, bonus, and the contract wording come into play. Worth at least finding out where you stand before you settle for the first offer.

Question 49

Can my employer fire me for no reason at all?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and that's normal. In Ontario, an employer can let you go without giving a reason, as long as they pay you proper severance. "Without cause" just means it isn't your fault. It doesn't mean it's free for them. The trade-off for being able to let you go is the severance they owe you for doing it.

Question 50

They stopped scheduling me but never said I was fired. Am I terminated?

Accepted Answer

Probably. They can't avoid severance by quietly letting your shifts dry up and never saying the word. If you're effectively out of work, the law can treat that as a termination. You don't have to wait for a formal letter. If the work has stopped, you may already be owed severance, even without anyone admitting you were fired.

Question 51

The company was sold. Do I still get severance?

Accepted Answer

Often, yes. A sale usually counts as a termination unless you keep working for the buyer. If you're offered a worse job with the new owner, lower pay, a lesser role, or a new location, you can turn it down and still claim full severance from the seller. And if you do stay on, your years with the old company come with you. Read any new contract carefully before signing.

Question 52

I was part of a big layoff. Does that change what I'm owed?

Accepted Answer

No. Your severance is still individual, based on your age, job, and years there, not on how many people went out the door with you. A company can't hand everyone the same package to keep it simple. And a mass layoff usually means a tougher job market, which can push your number up, not down.

Question 53

How much severance am I owed?

Accepted Answer

Almost always more than the offer. It's based on your age, your job, and how long you worked there, measured in months, not weeks. No week-per-year rule. Bonus, commission, benefits, and pension count too. Most first offers come in well below the real number.

Question 54

They're making me work out a notice period instead of paying me. Does that count?

Accepted Answer

It counts, but it usually doesn't cover everything. Working notice gets credited toward the severance you're owed, but employers tend to give less notice than the law requires. If you're owed eight months and work six, that six counts, and you're still owed the other two. Worth checking the math before you assume it's squared away.

Question 55

Can I negotiate it myself?

Accepted Answer

You can, but most people leave money on the table. The hard part is knowing the right number, and employers count on you not knowing it. The first offer is the lowest they think they can get away with. What moves it is a credible case for the real figure. At least find out where you stand before you accept.

Question 56

Do I have to sign by their deadline?

Accepted Answer

No. The deadline is theirs, not the law's. Your rights don't expire when it passes, you have two years to bring a claim. The cutoff exists to get your signature before you get advice. Take the time to have the numbers checked first.

Question 57

They fired me for cause. Am I owed anything?

Accepted Answer

Usually, yes. "For cause" lets an employer pay nothing, but the bar is very high, serious misconduct, not an ordinary mistake. Most cause claims fall apart when challenged. The question isn't whether you did something wrong. It's whether it was bad enough to throw out everything you'd otherwise be owed. Most of the time, it isn't.

Question 58

Can they fire me for cause over one mistake?

Accepted Answer

Almost never. One error, even a costly one, rarely meets the standard for cause. Cause is meant for the worst conduct, things like theft or serious dishonesty, usually after warnings. A single slip, a bad day, or a piece of broken equipment doesn't wipe out your severance. If they're calling one mistake "cause," it's worth pushing back.

Question 59

They say I was late too many times. Is that cause?

Accepted Answer

On its own, usually not. Lateness or minor performance issues are things an employer manages with warnings, not a fire-with-nothing. To make it cause, they'd have to show a serious, repeated problem and that they gave you real chances to fix it. Most of the time, "cause" over attendance or small issues is an opening position, not a solid one.

Question 60

Can my employer hold back my severance while they investigate?

Accepted Answer

They shouldn't be punishing you before they've decided anything. If an employer needs to look into something, they're generally supposed to keep paying you in the meantime, not cut you off first. Docking your pay while they investigate can itself be treated as a dismissal. Being judged before the facts are in is backwards, and the law knows it.

Question 61

I was put on a performance improvement plan. Can they fire me for cause if I miss the targets?

Accepted Answer

No. Failing a performance plan is not cause. If you were genuinely trying and just couldn't meet the goals, that's not misconduct, it's a fit problem, and they still owe you severance if they let you go. Employers sometimes use a plan to build a paper trail, but missing the targets doesn't erase what you're owed.

Question 62

My PIP feels unfair, like it's designed to push me out. What do I do?

Accepted Answer

Take it seriously, but don't panic. Respond in writing to anything you disagree with, so your side is on record and silence isn't read as agreement. A plan can be a real attempt to help, or a setup, and the difference matters later. Either way, being on one doesn't strip your rights. If they let you go, you're likely still owed severance.

Question 63

Does a "for cause" firing affect my EI?

Accepted Answer

It can, and it's fixable. If your Record of Employment says you were fired for cause, it can block your EI. But if the cause claim doesn't hold up, and most don't, that record can usually be corrected so your benefits flow. Don't just accept a "for cause" label that quietly costs you both your severance and your EI.

Question 64

Does my severance affect my EI?

Accepted Answer

It affects when EI starts, not whether you get it. Your severance gets spread across the weeks after you leave, so EI kicks in once that runs out. You don't lose EI by getting severance, it just waits its turn. Apply anyway, and apply early.

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