Any advice on wronful termination demand letter?

[smoojik]

My wife was terminated while on Maternity leave and we are taking her employer to court. Our lawyer suggested we send a letter of demand, which we did. She received a reply requesting she describe the grounds for her claim and I drafted this one for her ( I am not a poet! ) and am wondering if it is adequate.

If anyone has a moment to comment, I would appreciate any advice.
______________________________________________________

Dear Jerk. ( Will change this )

Thank you for your prompt reply. Had I received such a courtesy regarding my multiple requests for a letter of reference, this situation may have played out in a different manner all together.

Regardless, I am not in a position to inform you of the legalities behind the wrongful termination of a 15 year employee on Maternity leave, that would be up to you and whatever legal representation you may seek in this matter.

The purpose of the letter was to inform you that I will be seeking monetary compensation for what I feel is the unlawful termination of my employment with the GBC. That sum will depend on whether my demands are met in a timely and legal manner.

Should the board decide to settle this dispute out of court, I will be seeking a compensation package of no less than one months wage for each year of service with the GBC, including and not limited to; owed vacation pay, RRSP contributions for the term that I was receiving maternity leave and an adequate letter of reference.

You have 10 business days to respond to this letter. Should the board fail to reply, legal proceedings shall commence whereupon I will file for further damages on grounds of bad faith and loss of income for the period beginning at the end of my Maternity Leave coverage to the time I find new employment and not limited to any retraining costs involved in finding that employment.

Warmest Regards,
Your worst nightmare. ( Might not change this...LOL! )
____________________________________________________

Again, thanks for any input.

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by smoojik

My wife was terminated while on Maternity leave and we are taking her employer to court. Our lawyer suggested we send a letter of demand, which we did. She received a reply requesting she describe the grounds for her claim and I drafted this one for her ( I am not a poet! ) and am wondering if it is adequate.

If anyone has a moment to comment, I would appreciate any advice.
______________________________________________________

Dear Jerk. ( Will change this )

Thank you for your prompt reply. Had I received such a courtesy regarding my multiple requests for a letter of reference, this situation may have played out in a different manner all together.

Regardless, I am not in a position to inform you of the legalities behind the wrongful termination of a 15 year employee on Maternity leave, that would be up to you and whatever legal representation you may seek in this matter.

The purpose of the letter was to inform you that I will be seeking monetary compensation for what I feel is the unlawful termination of my employment with the GBC. That sum will depend on whether my demands are met in a timely and legal manner.

Should the board decide to settle this dispute out of court, I will be seeking a compensation package of no less than one months wage for each year of service with the GBC, including and not limited to; owed vacation pay, RRSP contributions for the term that I was receiving maternity leave and an adequate letter of reference.

You have 10 business days to respond to this letter. Should the board fail to reply, legal proceedings shall commence whereupon I will file for further damages on grounds of bad faith and loss of income for the period beginning at the end of my Maternity Leave coverage to the time I find new employment and not limited to any retraining costs involved in finding that employment.

Warmest Regards,
Your worst nightmare. ( Might not change this...LOL! )
____________________________________________________

Again, thanks for any input.

US Law Only - eh

[eerelations]

I am in Canada. Before I can respond about the "adequacy" of your letter, I need to know the following:

1. What was the reason your wife's former employer gave for terminating her employment?
   
2. Did your wife's former employer provide her with any termination and/or severance pay?
   
3. Was her vacation pay paid out?
   
4. What was her position at the company when she began her mat leave?
   
5. What was her annual salary at that point?
   
6. What kind of business is your wife's former employer in?
   
7. What province are you in?
   
8. Have you filed a complaint with your provincial employment standards office or HRDC?
   
9. What does your wife's former employer's policy say about RRSP contributions during mat leave?

When I have the answers to all of these questions, I can begin to help you.

[smoojik]

Originally Posted by eerelations

I am in Canada. Before I can respond about the "adequacy" of your letter, I need to know the following:

1. What was the reason your wife's former employer gave for terminating her employment?
   
2. Did your wife's former employer provide her with any termination and/or severance pay?
   
3. Was her vacation pay paid out?
   
4. What was her position at the company when she began her mat leave?
   
5. What was her annual salary at that point?
   
6. What kind of business is your wife's former employer in?
   
7. What province are you in?
   
8. Have you filed a complaint with your provincial employment standards office or HRDC?
   
9. What does your wife's former employer's policy say about RRSP contributions during mat leave?

When I have the answers to all of these questions, I can begin to help you.

Thank you for your response. I have edited the demand letter to be less inflamatory ( hard to do ) and we are submitting it today... regardless, any opinion would be a big help.

Answers to your questions:

1- reason for termination - reordering the workforce under a new contract. 1 of 5 positions were eliminated. She has 15 years seniority ( nobody above her ). Her mat leave replacement got the job. Wife has a degree. Mat leave replacement has no experience. It was an obvious grudge firing by her new supervisor. No formal reprimands against her... on the contrary; she has several letters of commendation from the board and previous supervisors. Was also demoted from supervisory position by her new supervisor

2- Severance= No severance whatsoever. She received a 2 sentence registered letter of notice 2 months before her mat leave was up.

3- Vacation Pay= No vacation pay. No letter of reference after several requests.

4- Position= Family support Worker/Counsellor worker

5- Salary= Appx. 35k

6- Business= Cannot name it due to mild paranoia about retaliation (please understand) but it is a well known Gov't + Privately funded community service

7- Province= BC

8- Filed Complaints= Have not filed with ESBC nor, HRTBC. As I understand, we cannot file with ESBC if we are going to court and the HRTBC says she doesn't have grounds for discrimination.

9- RRSP Policy= Unsure, the contributions were added to her paycheques and then transferred to her plan.

The employer based her termination on restructuring and the end of a contract term but she is an employee (not a contractor ) and has worked under the same contract obligations for 15 years. They opened a new contract and claimed it was restructured beyond her experience but the new positions description is a literal carbon copy of the one she herself designed while acting as a supervisor and they filled it with her Mat replacement who has no qualifications in the field. 2 days ago, she found an advert for her exact job at a well known employment service website.

Thanks for your time. We don't expect anyone to jump to our defence but would appreciate any advice.

[eerelations]

I didn't ask for the name of the business, I asked for the type of business - to see if it was federally- or provincially-regulated. It seems the business is provincially-regulated, based on the information you've provided.

I was planning to do some research into whether your wife was entitled to termination and/or severance pay however your admission that she was a contract employee stopped me. If she was a contract employee (not a contractor, a contract employee) it may be that she isn't due any termination/severance pay. It depends on the wording of her most recent contract. You'll have to take it to ESBC to find out.

Also, her contract may say that she's entitled to a certain amount of working notice when her contract ends - and mat leave time counts as "working notice" in law. So she might not be entitled any pay in lieu thereof.

You'll also have to look at her contract and paystubs to see how her vacation pay was paid out. Employers have a legal right to pay out vacation pay with each pay period, and if her employer was doing this, then she's not owed any vacation pay.

If her former employer's RRSP plan policy states that the employer will not make contributions to employees' accounts when they're on leave then her former employer is not legally liable for making contributions to your wife's plan while she was on leave.

Your wife having a degree vs her replacement having none has no bearing in this, or in law.

You really need to file a claim with the ESBC to sort this out. You can continue with the lawyer, however, I personally would have serious doubts about any lawyer who would tell you to write your own demand letter AND allow you to send the one you've posted here. (It's rude, threatening, unprofessional and nasty - while it probably made you feel good to write it, it sure ain't gonna have the same effect on the judge reading it! Basically it makes your wife look like she deserved to be fired. Sorry if that angers you, but it's true.)

While your lawyer may end up getting you a settlement, I guarantee it'll be small, it'll take three years to arrive, and you will have to pay legal fees to get it. If you file a claim with the ESBC, you may get a settlement, and if you do it'll arrive within one year, and getting it will be free.

Finally, don't bother filing a claim with the HRTBC. They're only interested in discrimination cases based on things like race, age, religion and disability and so on, and nothing in your posts indicates that your wife was let go for reasons like this.

I'm sorry if the foregoing disappoints you. It is true and factual advice, and it took me some time to assemble it.