Question

John was an immigrant who came to Canada with his with his family 4 years ago. He was a manager in his home country when he left the job and came here. He searched for a new job for a couple of months before he landed into his first survival job. It was working for a tire selling company as a customer service rep. John was happy to find a new job even though it was not up to his calibre. John worked hard on his new job and was soon promoted to the position of the assistant manager, he kept working in this company for the next three years. During these three years he was constantly promoted. By the starting of last year he was already a manager in his company. During this time, his wife upgraded and became a teacher in a local school.

Teachers in Canada, and most of the districts must attend a day of professional development day every month. Last year, in September John's wife needed to attend her professional development day. It happened to be the last Monday and the last day od the month. John requested his boss (the GM) a week before that he will have to take a leave on Monday as he had no one to watch his kids. John's boss was in a hurry and told him that he could take the leave. In their company they just needed to write it on the Whiteboard in the GM’s office- the name and date of the person who is going to be absent. John did what he was told by his general manager and told his wife that he has been able to get the leave. The same week on Friday his general manager came to him and told him that he could not take that leave as Monday was closing for the company and he was needed for the inventory. It was already 4:05 PM when John was told this. His usual workday used to end at 4 p.m. John was rushing to pick up his kids from their class when his boss came running to him to tell him that he could not take a leave. John was shocked for two reasons: 1) why did his boss come this late, on a Friday and that to end of the day when he was already getting late to pick his kids 2) how will he now be able to find childcare for children as it was the weekend already. John left the company after he told his boss that he will try his best to find child care for his children over the weekend and if he is able to, he's come to the job, else he is sorry.

There are two more parts relevant to the story.

Six months before this happened, John had applied for the position of the general manager for his company. He was an internal candidate, yet his application was not considered. John was surprised by this and when the District Manager of the company visited one day to the local office, he asked the DM why he was not invited for an interview for this position. The DM said nothing at first, but later told him did he should continue to do what he was doing. He was also told that this was the only unit where the company had two managers and that was costly for the company. The other manager who had applied for the same position did get an interview call.

Another thing that happened during this time was John's relationship did the other manager. The other manager was a young boy born in Canada. He openly said that he didn't like John at all as John looked like his father and he did not get along well with his father. Often, he was rude with John. The had minimum interactions.

Coming back to the present day, John was standing outside his company in a dilemma of how he'll be fine child care. He tried his best over the weekend to find childcare but failed to do so. So he did not go to his job on Monday. On Tuesday it was the first of October 2019, when John went do his regular duties. He was she was surprised to find that's the new general manager had taken over in the company. It was none other than the second manager who used to work with John and hate him. The very first thing the second manager did as the new general manager was call John to his office and hand over a termination letter. He was told that the due to his insubordination, he could no longer work with the company. John was shocked and refused to sign the letter. He left the company, but before he did, he was able to get a picture of the termination letter he had been served. It said that as he had taken a vacation day without permission, and even after being warned not to do so, he had been insubordinate and thus terminated.

It's important to note here that the company had a policy which said that anyone wanting to take a leave needed to inform the immediate supervisor at least two weeks before the leave. Another important thing to note here is that during the days of inventory employees were not allowed to take leave especially those in managerial positions.

What are the legal issues that can arise in this case?

Answer 1

John has joined the company as a customer service representative. He was a hardworking and dedicated employee as this job was not matching his qualification must he joined it due to his need for employment. Due to his hard work and dedication the company promoted him to managerial level and he got the job according to his work profile.

In this case, John has served the company with full dedication and efficiency. But, the company has not paid off his duties. He was not called for an interview for the GM of the company. This reason is that he was not a Canadian national and the other manager was a Canadian national and young as compared to John.

Also, his senior was not respecting John's dedication and hard work and compelled John to sign the termination letter. John has already informed his boss regarding the leave which he will take on the last day of the month. At that time the boss agreed upon it nut later he refused that John will not be granted any leave as it was the last working day of the month. The usual time of the office was 4 pm but his boss told him about his decisions at 4.30 pm which is already an illegal act done by the boss.

John has some responsibilities towards his family and he cannot leave his kids alone at home. This was his moral responsibility. So, giving John a termination letter was not an ethical act dome by the company. John has a good reputation that is why he was promoted at various levels.

John can lodge a complaint against the boss and the company as the reason of termination was not right but the Canadian national was the main reason for his termination.