Fire Power: The Indispensable Resource for Those Who Must Fire Employees and for Employees Who Face Termination

John Marston was a federal civil servant in Ottawa.

Brian A. Grosman, Q.C., is a distinguished Toronto lawyer who devotes a large part of his practice to advising corporate employers and executive employees on terminations, employment contracts, and management rights. He has successfully argued many of the leading cases in this area of the law. He is the author of The Executive Firing Line as well as other books and numerous articles on legal topics.

Gone are the days when an executive can be called into the office and told he is fired. Oh yes, he can be fired, but there must be well-documented reasons for the action and there is also the not inconsiderable matter of what payments and benefits will be given to the person upon termination. Grosman’s book makes a telling plea for bringing about these separations in ways that are enlightened and, to a degree at least, humane.

From his years of experience as a top wrongful dismissal lawyer, Brian Grosman provides real examples, approaches, and guidelines to humanize the often painful and costly process of termination for both employers and employees. The book supplies excellent information in the areas of employment contracts, the art of firing (and it is an art), severance packaging, and costs and damages (both mental and financial), addressing the rights of both employer and employee. He discusses, with many cogent examples, the techniques for avoiding and settling litigation in a cost-efficient and humane way. He covers the very important question of who owns what a former employee knows, what constitutes “reasonable motive,” and typical settlements in wrongful dismissal actions, as well as the very necessary responsibility of relocation counselling, human resource counselling, and financial planning.