$13,000 Additional award after one Letter – Driven To The Edge
Rochelle was 48, earned $62,000.00 per year, employed with this company for 12 years and had four week’s vacation at the time of termination.
We worked with Rochelle’s employer and outlined a letter to first educate them on not being able to have a claw back on the whole amount which could result in not meeting the minimum standard and requested vacation pay on the severance portion as well.
Here are the facts:
- Rochelle was employed by a large Financial Services provider specializing in commercial auto insurance
- Rochelle drove on average 4 hours a day for her job to visit clients
- She had been involved in two car accident within a 6 month time period
- The accidents that occurred did not include any charges to Rochelle
- After the second car accident she was advised in writing any future accidents would mean providing her own transportation and insurance
- A third accident followed weeks later in extreme weather conditions where no charges were laid
Rochelle immediately put her personal vehicle on the road with her own insurance policy - Upon reporting this third car accident to her employer she was abruptly terminated
- With 12 years of service and good performance she was provided a termination package with the maximum notice of 8 weeks and twice the legal severance of 24 weeks for a total of 32 weeks pay plus vacation pay of 8% on any vacation earned and not taken and vacation pay on the notice
- Salary continuance with benefits was also offered, however, the provision included a 50% claw back of the package along with termination of benefits upon new employment
Even if the claw back was intended for the severance portion only should Rochelle find employment within 20 weeks her employer was valuing her service with the absolute minimum pay out. We also identified that they were in breach of their agreement with Rochelle with respect to the car accidents and this in fact could be construed as wrongful dismissal. In addition Rochelle had not been in the job market for over a decade and the worst economic decline was hitting hard, she would need significant assistance to find newemployment and a larger sum awarded to extend her time line to find new employment. The employer did provide a minimal career transition service with a market value of $1,000.00. One week after issuing the letter the outcome resulted in an additional 8 week’s severance plus vacation pay on this amount and a top line outplacement service valued at $4,000.00. The claw back was removed on the pay out and the termination clause on the benefits was revised to be based on equivalent or better offering of benefits with new employment.
