Employment Lawyers in Strathmore, AB, Serving Clients in Need of Resolution

When experiencing a disagreement with your employer, the odds can feel stacked against you. An employer holds your paycheck and livelihood in their hands. Union members have labour lawyers and union leaders to turn two while settling disputes, but what allies does a non-union employee have on their side?

Employment lawyers specialize in working alongside their clients on diagnosing, consulting, and litigating legal issues concerning work. At Getz Collins and Associates, our team of lawyers specializing in employment law is ready to go to bat for you or, at the very least, show you what options you have.

What Services Do Employment Lawyers Provide for Their Clients?

Typically, an employment lawyer mediates or contends issues with an employer on behalf of the employee as an acting ambassador for their rights. Most commonly, these disputes arise over a termination. An employee may have any number of disagreements with their own termination, and an employment lawyer discusses with each party to review that separation in search of:

Human rights violations committed by the employer
Whether or not the employer terminated the employee with due cause
Possible misinterpretations of the employer/employee contract that could have resulted in the employer’s dissatisfaction and termination of the employee
Human rights violations that the employer may have committed in the termination of their client

An employment lawyer serves the purpose of both a barrister (litigating matters in court) and a solicitor (drafting or reviewing paperwork, making employment contracts, etc.), which is unique in the field of law. Typically, a lawyer only performs one of those jobs. An employment law firm or an individual employment lawyer practicing at a general firm may work for either the employee or the employer, depending on who hired them. A large company may even have employment lawyers on retainer.

If an employee is not unionized, they can hire any employment lawyer they want. If they are in a union, the employee is part of a collective agreement between their union and employer stating that their representation solely comes from the union. Outside of union benefits, non-unionized employees will be responsible for hiring and paying for their own legal fees.

What Tasks Do Employment Lawyers Perform When Assisting or Representing Employees?

When hired by an employee with a grievance against their current or former workplace, it is the responsibility of the employment lawyer to work diligently to understand and best represent the situation from the employee’s perspective. To do so, an employment lawyer may perform any or all of the following tasks, depending on the particular situation’s needs:

Host an initial consultation visit with the employee wishing to file a grievance or litigation.
Meet with recently dismissed employees to see if more litigation is needed
Draft a letter to the former employer seeking a more beneficial severance package for the released employee
Review employment contracts, specifically the termination clause, for misrepresentation or errors
Consult on executive employment agreements proposed by a company
Attend court, tribunals, or other litigation matters with or on behalf of their client
Attend evidence discoveries
Attend workplace investigation meetings
Draft letters explaining the employee’s side of the story; if the employee was accused of workplace harassment
Attend dispute mediation meetings
Draw up a Statement of Claim to launch a lawsuit concerning wrongful dismissal, if necessary
Launch class-action lawsuits based on wage agreements on behalf of all employees at a single employer
Represent a client against the Ministry of Labour if there is a case of unpaid labour

What Tasks Do Employment Lawyers Perform When Assisting or Representing Employers?

Be they a regular or retained employee of the company or a lawyer that the company has hired to help mediate an issue, the life of an employment lawyer working on behalf of the employer can look quite different from one on the employee’s side. As mentioned above, the most common complaint is dealing with a previous employee’s termination of employment. Employment lawyers working on behalf of employers will typically draw up employment contracts and policies, negotiate severance for terminated employees, and defend the employer from litigation levied against them.

A typical day in the life of the employment lawyer representing an employer may include, but is not limited to, the following:

Defending a wrongful dismissal lawsuit by drafting a Statement of Defense
Defending wage class actions
Acting as an investigator within the workplace
Drafting any of the below:
- Executive employment agreements
- Equity agreements
- Employment contract changes or new copy
- Termination clauses
- Harassment, discrimination, health and safety, and workplace violence policies
Attending mediation on behalf of the employer to settle disputes
Ensuring the client employer is working in compliance with employment standards
Acting on behalf of the employer in court or a litigation tribunal
Attending evidence discoveries opposite the employee’s lawyer
Prosecuting those employees who breach restrictive covenants, such as non-competition and non-solicitation agreements
Performing due diligence in mergers and acquisitions

What Are the Steps You Need to Take Next?

Whether you feel your employer has wrongfully terminated you or are in charge of litigious matters at a large corporation, there is a broad spectrum on which the “need for an employment lawyer” falls. Knowing what tasks an employment lawyer is able to perform is one step in the battle. However, every situation needs its own unique attention from a legal entity, as no two bouts of litigation are precisely alike. If you’re looking to satisfy legality at your workplace in any form, start by getting in touch with a lawyer who you can trust to represent you coolly and fairly. Schedule an appointment today with the offices of Getz Collins and Associates. We’d be happy to take your call: (403) 934-2500. We look forward to assisting and consulting you on your options, as no one should face a case against a corporation, no matter how small.