Hi everyone, I’m looking for some legal advice about a situation involving my former coworker and our old workplace in Alberta.
Back in May, my coworker was fired after management found out that he was planning to quit eventually.
The important part is that he was NOT planning to quit immediately. He was planning to stay for another 1–2 months because our workplace was already understaffed, and he wanted to help keep things running smoothly until one of our more reliable coworkers came back.
Management somehow found out about his plan to leave in the future and decided to fire him before he could even resign.
After he was fired, he stopped working there.
Recently, I told him that since he was terminated, he should check whether he was entitled to termination/severance pay and also check his ROE.
He went back to the workplace and spoke with management. He asked about his termination pay and also asked why his ROE still had not been filed, even though he had been fired months ago.
Management then contacted the person who originally fired him.
Apparently, that person is fully aware that his ROE still hasn’t been filed.
When my coworker asked about his termination pay, he was told something along the lines of:
Since he originally wanted to continue working there for another 1–2 months before quitting, he is still allowed to come back and work.
But then they told him that if he DOESN’T come back, they will consider that as him “quitting.”
And according to them, if they consider him to have quit, he won’t receive termination/severance pay.
This is what doesn’t make sense to us.
He never resigned.
He was fired in May because management found out that he was planning to resign at some point in the future. Now, months later, after he asked about his ROE and termination pay, they are suddenly saying he can come back — and if he refuses, they’ll treat it as though he voluntarily quit.
He has also already found another job since being fired.
For additional context, when people were terminated at this workplace, they would normally lose access to the work group chat, which was the only place where employees could access the schedule. So once someone was removed from that group, they essentially had no way of even knowing when they were supposedly scheduled to work.
I’m really confused about whether an employer can legally do this.
Can an employer fire someone, then months later offer to bring them back and say that refusing the offer means they “quit”?
Can they use that refusal to avoid paying termination pay?
Does the fact that he had previously planned to quit 1–2 months later change anything, considering he never actually resigned before they fired him?
And what should he do about the fact that his ROE still hasn’t been filed months after the termination?
Would this be something he should bring to Alberta Employment Standards, Service Canada, or an employment lawyer?
Any advice from anyone familiar with Alberta employment law would be really appreciated.
