Glossary - Employment and Work
When an employer fires you or lays you off, they usually have to give you notice ahead of time. The amount of time can depend on many things including how long you’ve been in the job.
If they let you go right away, they must pay you the money you’d have earned if they had told you ahead of time. This is called pay in lieu of notice or termination pay.
In Employment and Work, Housing Law, Human Rights, Tribunals and Courts
Ontario’s Human Rights Code says that employers and landlords must do what they can to remove barriers that cause people to be treated differently because of personal differences that are listed in the Human Rights Code. The legal word for this is accommodation. Examples of personal differences include a person’s ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability.
But an employer or landlord might not have to do something if they can prove that doing it will cause them undue hardship. For example, it would be undue hardship:
- if the only solution available would cost the employer or landlord too much
- if the only solution would cause a serious risk to the health or safety to other workers or tenants
In Employment and Work, Human Rights, Tribunals and Courts
A union is an organized group of workers that bargains with an employer to set conditions of employment, such as wages, hours of work, and overtime pay. Sometimes unions are called labour unions or trade unions.
Service Canada can give you a penalty if you give them information related to your Employment Insurance (EI) claim that you know is not true or accurate. This is called a violation.
If you have any violations in the last 5 years, you might need to work more hours to qualify for EI.
The Employment Standards Act says that wages include your regular salary, vacation pay, commissions, overtime, holiday pay, allowances for room and board, and termination pay.
They don’t include tips, employer contributions to a benefit plan, payments from a benefit plan, or expenses that an employer pays for, such as travel.
Workers’ compensation benefits are payments for injuries or diseases that are related to the work you were doing. Workers’ compensation is paid by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).
