Lindsay Kenney lawyers discuss the issues and concerns regarding employment contracts and future litigation.
Employment Litigation
Lindsay Kenney LLP – Vancouver and Langley Offices
Full Transcript:
The distinction between employment law and commercial transactions is that you’re dealing with people. And an employee and an employer have a duty of good faith between each other. Simply put they need to treat each other respectfully and fairly.
Employment Law is complex. It is not like your typical contract or commercial transaction, because there are numerous employee protection and human rights issues that arise. At Lindsay Kenney we have litigators and solicitors in our employment group. This allows us to develop plans, policies, and contracts that you can use moving forward. When a workplace issue arises, the lawyer and the client begin working as a team. These issues can take several months to resolve themselves. It’s important during that period that there’s a continuity of service and you trust who you’re dealing with.
The best time to hire an employment lawyer is before a problem arises. You can avoid lengthy and costly litigation by having a well drafted employment agreement. The law with respect to employment agreements is changing quite a bit with the times. There’s certain ideas and provisions that are put into them now that just weren’t in consideration 10 years ago. So if you’re using an employment agreement, you should really have a lawyer look at it. That’s something at Lindsay Kenney we can do for you, and we can help make sure that it’s up to date, that it’s got all the provisions that it should have, and more importantly that it would actually be enforceable.
Non compete, non competition, non solicitation clauses are often included in people’s contracts. As an employer, you want to make sure that somebody’s not going to take your business, and as an employee, you want to make sure that, if you’re terminated, that you get to continue working in your field. The enforceability of non compete clauses is really dependent on how it’s drafted. Specifically there are certain requirements that the courts have set out that need to be in a non compete provision in a contract for it to be enforceable. We can assist with that on either side of the fence, with either the employer or the employee, to make sure that things are going smoothly, because at the end of the day you want to be able to keep that relationship moving forward, and we can assist with that.
When you’re looking for an employment lawyer, you need someone who specializes in employment law. Someone who has knowledge about drafting the agreements, but also has a wealth of experience in the courtroom, but also human rights tribunals, because employment law changes frequently. Employment law advice is invaluable whether you’re selling a business or buying a business. Here at Lindsay Kenney, we have a depth of experience to deal with all types of employment law issues.