Employment agreement (written contract)

Quebec’s Civil Code defines a contract of employment as one by which a person, the employee, undertakes for a limited time and for remuneration to do work under the direction or control of another person, the employer. Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000 speaks of an employment contract that may be oral or written, express or implied. A buyer meets the agreements in diligence. See whether employees need new contracts after an asset sale.

Minimum standards cannot be waived

Ontario’s Act says no employer or employee, or agent of either, shall contract out of or waive an employment standard, and that any such contracting out or waiver is void, subject to subsection 5(2), under which a contract term giving a greater benefit applies instead. British Columbia’s Act says its requirements are minimums and that an agreement to waive them has no effect, except an agreement referred to in section 3(2). Alberta’s Code also has a section headed “Minimum standards cannot be avoided” (s. 4). The termination clause is a term that can be tested against these rules.

What to review

• Whether each employee has a signed agreement or only an offer letter
• Terms on pay, notice, bonuses and restrictive covenants
• Whether the agreement can be assigned to a buyer in an asset sale