When recruiting new employees, how can an employer make sure it doesn’t induce people from leaving their existing job?
Question: When recruiting new employees, how can an employer make sure it doesn’t induce people from leaving their existing job?
Answer: In seeking to hire employees who are qualified and motivated, employers will want to consider whether their recruitment practices have the effect of inducing people from leaving a secure position of employment. Where an employee is induced away from secure employment and then subsequently terminated from that new employment without cause, it may lead to an increased entitlement to pay in lieu of notice at common law.
Where possible, an employer may want to avoid or limit their use of head hunting as a recruitment strategy as this is the most obvious example of an employer intervening in an individual’s prior employment. Inducement will often arise in circumstances where the employer has initiated contact with the individual they hire and made promises of secure employment so as to entice them to accept employment with their organization.
If head hunting is determined to be the best recruitment strategy in the circumstances, a prudent employer will likely want to consider constructing an employment contract that sets out a specified formula for calculating damages in the event the employee is dismissed. Otherwise, inducement may be an important factor a court will consider in calculating the quantum of reasonable notice and may lead to a greater damages award.
Amy Gibson is an associate with MLT Aikins in Saskatoon, practising general labour and employment law. She can be reached at (306) 956-6994 or [email protected].
