Dear Editor:
Last night (Wednesday, June 22) during a closed session meeting the Whitewater Municipal Council voted to terminate their current CAO Christine Fitzsimons.
As this was an internal decision affecting areas of privacy and confidentiality I do not expect any details concerning this development will be made public – other than the fact that Ms. Fitzsimons was terminated.
The termination without cause option explained
An employer must provide written notice of the intent to terminate an employee as well as the termination date. However if an employer wants the termination to take effect immediately most employment / labour standards will allow an employer the option of a “Payment In Lieu of Notice” but even in this circumstance a written notice of termination as well as the date upon which the employee’s tenure ends must still be given.
Payment In Lieu of Notice remuneration is based on the normal weekly salary of the employee, and while the employee benefits must also be covered for the notice period, some jurisdictions require that the employer must state the date by which payment in lieu of working notice will be made as well
Therefore, employers must research the employment / labour standards in their area for the specifics on how the payment in lieu of notice is calculated, and when that payment is due to the employee, however in the non profit sector Termination Without Cause is often the result of restructuring or changes in funding, thus the termination is related to the position instead of the individual’s performance or conduct for example –
(A) An organization may decide to reorganize its operations, and in so doing a position may then become redundant, therefore the employee who held the position is terminated.
(B) Funding for a project may not be renewed and thus the employee who worked on the project is terminated
(C) Two organizations may merge and then decide to share office space and a receptionist, so the employment of the receptionist from one organization is terminated.
(D) An employee through no fault their own may not be a good fit with the needs of the organization
Nevertheless, although the employee’s performance could be poor it may not necessarily meet the legal standard for a Termination With Cause, but as long as the employer has acted in fairness and good faith, made reasonable efforts to help the employee meet the expected standard, and given the employee time and support to improve themselves, the employer may terminate the employee at any time by simply giving he or she the above mentioned “Payment in lieu of notice” as required by law.
However, in a straight forward “Termination Without Cause” scenario there is no legal obligation whatsoever for the employer to give an employee a reason for their termination.
All the same when being terminated most employees will want to know why, and if a reason is provided it’s important to be fair and honest, however it goes without saying no employer should ever allege they have just cause for a termination, when in fact they do not.
To do so would be akin to prescribing a medication that only treats the symptoms of a disorder, instead of treating its cause.
I trust this explanation is sufficient for the general electorate to better understand the termination without cause option.
Donald E. Broome,
Cobden
