Paying workers or paying lawyers: Employee termination practices in the United States and Canada

This article explores one multinational corporation’s employee termination practices in the United States and Canada. There are fairly insignificant differences in employees’ legal protections in the two countries and the company claims a uniform corporate employee termination process cross-nationally. However, there are major structural and procedural differences in the employee termination process. The differences, including the way attorneys are utilized, the use of quasi-legal personnel to comply with regulatory requirements, and the substance of the severance package are explored. In the United States money is directed toward legal professionals –“paying lawyers” while in Canada expenses associated with employee termination go to severance packages –“paying workers.”.