Are you looking for employment lawyers in Surrey BC? Workplace rights are important, and you need to know about employment law.

You need to be informed and bust the workplace rights myths. Sometimes something happens at work, and you need to know your rights.

At other times, you are a manager or business owner, and you feel extorted by an employee. The information in this article is helpful for both employees and business owners.

Sometimes there are temporary layoffs in business. Temporary layoffs used to be considered termination. You can then push for severance and look for another job.

If you need a lawyer to help you with an employment issue in Surrey BC, reach out to Davison North Law at 6046297808

BC Employment Lawyers: Navigate Workplace Issues

If you are a business owner, severance can cost you a lot of money. If the employee worked at your business for ten years, you might be liable for a year’s severance.

That can cost your business another $100,000 that you were planning for!

A temporary layoff is not a substitute for a termination. You should speak to one of our employment lawyers in Surrey BC before making any labour law decisions.

Employment law is broken down into two parts, one side is for employees, and the other side is for employers.

Hiring an employment lawyer as an employee normally means either paying an hourly rate or sometimes if it’s a lawsuit, it can be a contingency rate.

For employers, it’s always an hourly rate, as the company is often simply trying to limit its liability.

For Employees

Labour laws and rights
Dealing with harassment claims
Getting fired in a way that violates BC employment laws
Any sort of discrimination
Negotiating with your employer when you get fired (on compensation)
Reviewing the employment contract when you start a new job
Representing you during workplace issues

Information For Companies

Preparing employment agreements for your employees
Contracts for the contractors you use (or third-party companies)
Legal advice when firing an employee
Educating you on BC employment law
Helping you investigate certain things or employees
Providing training on the law to your managers

The employment lawyers in Surrey BC also help both employees and employers start and defend lawsuits in court.

Employment Lawyers Surrey BC

If you place an employee on a temporary layoff, it can be considered a layoff. This opens your company to liability.

Once an employee is called back to work, they then can’t sue you for the temporary layoff. If you then lay them off again, the employee can’t do much about it.

When someone gets sick, let’s say cancer, they might have to leave work for a year. Because they are on leave, they are still an employee.

When the employee comes back, they should be offered a similar job. Otherwise, it could be a human rights violation based on a disability (cancer.)

The company needs to exhaust every effort to try and find the same job, or a similar job, for the employee that comes back.

The employee needs to be offered severance if the company cannot find a similar job. They must get paid.

If someone is filling the position that was vacated, that’s okay. But the returning employee should be offered a similar job.

If the returning employee is offered a job that reduces their salary by more than 5%, that’s constructive dismissal.

Employment Lawsuits That Happened In Surrey BC

High-profile cases in Surrey BC involve companies facing charges of discrimination and harassment, and each one underscores the need for adherence to laws protecting worker rights.

In 2021, an employee at a prominent Surrey tech firm, ByteFusion, was awarded $250,000 in damages after a landmark ruling. The employee, Ms. Audrey Harper, faced workplace discrimination based on her gender.

The BC Human Rights Tribunal heard Harper’s claim, validating her allegations of systematic biases that prevented her from advancing within the company.

Expert Legal Solutions: Employment Lawyers in Surrey, BC

Harper’s case illuminated a worrying trend – ByteFusion’s technical positions were filled predominantly by men, a skewed 70:30 ratio. Her win against ByteFusion signalled a stern warning to tech firms regarding their responsibility toward fostering equitable workplaces.

The Tribunal found ByteFusion guilty of non-compliance with Section 13 of the BC Human Rights Code, which prohibits discrimination regarding employment. Harper’s promotion denial, despite her qualifications and stellar performance reviews, provided concrete proof.

With this ruling, ByteFusion became an exemplar for gender discrimination lawsuits in Surrey, spurring other companies to revisit their policies to avoid similar consequences.

Defending Your Rights

Harper’s case not only inspired women facing similar issues but also led to the inception of the advocacy group ‘ByteTheBias’, pressuring tech companies to address gender disparities. ByteTheBias has since reported a 12% decrease in gender-based bias complaints across Surrey’s tech sector.

In a separate incident in 2022, Surrey-based construction company, BuildMax Ltd., faced a lawsuit when an employee, Mr. James Thorpe, was unjustly terminated for raising safety concerns.

BuildMax’s decision to terminate Thorpe violated Section 150 of the Workers Compensation Act, which safeguards workers’ right to refuse unsafe work.

Refusing to work in unsafe conditions

This case captured the public’s attention due to the blatant disregard for worker safety in an industry where safety is paramount.

The BC Supreme Court ruled in Thorpe’s favour, awarding him $180,000 for wrongful dismissal. The Court acknowledged that BuildMax had contravened the Act by terminating Thorpe for refusing to work in unsafe conditions.

Following this decision, the company was also fined $50,000 by WorkSafeBC for violating safety protocols, based on Thorpe’s initial complaint. The termination had a chilling effect on workers voicing safety concerns, and the ruling reinforced the necessity of robust protections for whistleblowers.

Expertise in Labour Law

Post-verdict, there has been a 10% increase in safety-related complaints across BC, indicating that the ruling emboldened workers to voice concerns about their safety.

Both Thorpe’s and Harper’s cases serve as notable examples of successful employment lawsuits in Surrey, BC, and their impact resonates well beyond their individual workplaces.

These cases highlight the crucial role that lawsuits play in the enforcement of employment laws. They underscore the importance of vigilance by employers in respecting and upholding worker rights. These instances serve as reminders for all employers in Surrey, BC, and beyond, to review their practices to ensure full compliance with the law.

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Expert Employment Lawyers in Surrey, BC: Protecting Your Rights