You have no legal right to your job. Your employer can fire you for many reasons, including poor work performance, being late too often, not showing up for work, or having a bad attitude.

Under BC law, if your employer decides to fire you, he or she must give you written notice of when your job ends.  If he or she decides you must leave your job right away, he or she must pay you some compensation money.

Notice & compensation

The amount of notice or compensation you can get depends on how long you have worked for your employer.

If your employer fires you without notice, you have a minimum right to:

• One week’s pay if you have been employed for at least three months
• Two weeks’ pay if you have been employed for one year
• Three weeks’ pay if you have been employed for three years.

Your employer must give you one week’s pay for every year that you worked up to a maximum of eight years.

There are some reasons when your employer can fire you without giving you notice or compensation. These include:

• You have been hired for a job that you know will only last 12 months, or less
• Your job has ended and your employer offers you a similar job but you do not take it
• Your workplace is destroyed by something your employer cannot control (e.g., fire, flooding)

Just cause

Your employer can also fire you without written notice or compensation after three months of employment, if he or she has just cause for letting you go. Examples of just cause include stealing from your employer or striking a co-worker.

If you are fired, your employer must pay all your wages for the time you worked within 48 hours.

This article is a brief introduction to some of the laws about working in BC. For more detailed information, go to the website of the Employment Standards Branch at:
www.labour.gov.bc.ca/esb/

This Project is made possible through funding from the Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia