Canadian Law – Contract Law

Canadian Law – Contract Law

Dear Ms.Cloverdale,

RE: Discharge of severance contract

This letter of opinion constitutes my professional opinion on what you can and cannot do as far as a discharge of severance contract is concerned.

There is no need of discharging your severance contract since you have already received your payment. Every employee in Canada, except a construction worker is entitled to a severance pay despite how long you have worked for Bell Mobility or how big that company is (Duton, n.d). This is because every employee who works in Canada is entitled to the common law severance (Duton, n.d). If you had an employment contract with a termination clause, it provides information on how much severance pay you ought to receive and the plan for its payment. Upon signing the severance contract, you gave up your rights to sue the company and discharging that contract does not mean you could receive a better package compared to the $259,000.00 in compensation you received. Despite how much you are currently struggling for money, you might be required to pay back the compensation you received and you might not get back the amount paid. The process may also take a lot of time before the court comes to a conclusion and you would have spent a lot of resources (money in terms of legal fees) fighting the case. If Bell Mobility had not honored its severance pay then you could have an excellent legal claim. The written agreement binds the company to honor its severance pay which has already come into fruition hence it will not be easy to file a claim to discharge the contract with any foreseeable repercussions. .

You can however file a claim for breach of contract and seek remedies for the breach. This could be successful considering that the other parties (Bell Mobility) break one of its promises. The main promise in your contract was the severance pay which is already honored while the minor promise is provision of a reference letter upon your job elimination. In Canada the law of contracts is based on English common law (Rubidium, 2012). Canadian law recognizes the enforceability of promises provided in contracts whether written or oral so long as the courts can an objective or manifestation of intent in promises to bound the involved parties. Canadian law provides multiple remedies in cases where there is a breach of contract (Rubidium, 2012). Considering that you have been struggling with money you could seek compensation for the breach. In your case you could file for monetary damages. When seeking monetary damages all you are saying is that the injured party (you) is entitled to be compensated for a loss which would not have occurred if the contract had been completed. In this case you should be able to provide scenarios where a recommendation has caused you job opportunities. This is the better option for you if you are willing to take this step make sure that you have all the necessary requirements which might enable you to win your case. Make sure you have your written agreement and examples of scenarios where the letter for recommendation could have helped you. If your lawyer can be able to maneuver your case in a way that the breach of contract has caused you frustration and duress and affect your quality of life (income) then your case will be strong enough to win you a reasonable sum of money as compensation.

Reference

Duton,J.(n.d).Severance pay Canada. Retrieved from https://duttonlaw.ca/severance-pay-canada-faq/

Rabideau, L .(April 2012). Contract law in Canada. Retrieved from https://www.rabideaulaw.ca/contract-law-in-canada/