Employment lawyers in Toronto

An Employment Standards Act claim to the Ministry of Labour must generally be filed within two years. In most cases a court claim can't be filed more than two years after the dismissal. A human rights application must be filed within one year of the last incident. If your employer is federally regulated (a bank, airline or telecom company, for example), an unjust dismissal complaint under the Canada Labour Code must be filed within 90 days.

You have to choose: you can't file a claim with the Ministry and also sue in court over the same issue, and if you file a claim and change your mind you have two weeks to withdraw it. The Ministry enforces the minimums in the Employment Standards Act. A court can award 'reasonable notice', which is often more — so get advice before you file or sign a release.

The Employment Standards Act sets minimums: notice of termination of one to eight weeks depending on your length of service, plus severance pay if you have five or more years' service and your employer's payroll is at least $2.5 million. Unless your contract validly limits you to those minimums, a court may award more based on your age, role, length of service and how long it should take to find similar work.

Ministry of Labour claims and Human Rights Tribunal applications are filed online. Lawsuits go to the Superior Court of Justice, or to its Small Claims Court branch for claims up to $50,000 — for Toronto, see the court list on our Toronto page.

To practise law in Ontario a lawyer must be licensed by the Law Society of Ontario, which also licenses paralegals. You can look up anyone in the Law Society's public Lawyer and Paralegal Directory, which shows their status and any discipline history. Each lawyer on these pages was checked in that directory before being listed, but people move firms, so check again before you hire. Complaints about a lawyer go to the Law Society.