Earned business degree, then an honours BA from the University of Guelph
A lawyer’s fight for employee rights
John Evans has been a tireless defender of Canadian employees for more than 30 years.
He’s won cases involving unfair dismissal, injunctions, restrictions on future employment, and various forms of mistreatment – while constantly keeping up to date with evolving laws, regulations, and social dynamics in the modern workplace.
Succeeding as an employment lawyer in Canada today clearly requires a great deal of knowledge and passion. It also doesn’t hurt to be a workaholic.
“It’s in my DNA,” Evans says. “I love helping employees and executives who find themselves in a difficult situation because they’ve lost their job or experienced mistreatment. Am I a workaholic? Yes, but in a good way because I love what I do.”
Over the years, Evans has earned a well-deserved reputation as a fierce and tireless advocate for Canadian employees and executives, and the desire to win doesn’t end when the office closes.
Asked how he unwinds after work, he says he plays golf – though Evans’ approach to golf looks a lot like his approach to defending his clients.
“I’m a member of three courses,” he says. “Okay, it’s a bit excessive but I love the camaraderie. I also love the competitiveness.”
Most of Evans’ cases involve allegations of wrongful dismissal, where an employee or group of employees believes they have been wrongly terminated because of the amount they were offered and concerns about human rights issues including their age, disability, or other reasons not related to their performance. This can be difficult to prove because there’s rarely a smoking gun that clearly points to the cause of termination.
“It’s more complicated,” Evans says. “I recently started working with someone who was terminated at 60, but an employer isn’t just going to say they’re firing you because of age because that’s a breach of contract and discrimination under the Human Rights Code.”
These types of cases require research into the background of the employee as well as the circumstances and timing of the termination to determine if it was improperly motivated.
“I see a lot of trumped-up allegations against employees and executives who have been fired,” Evans says. “I even had a case recently where the employer claimed that our client wanted to be terminated, which was completely false.”
As more workers are fired during a downturn in the economy, he says they need to challenge unfair dismissals and ensure they are fairly compensated because they may be out of work for a long period of time, especially if they are older workers. Evans says it’s his responsibility to ensure that clients aren’t leaving money on the table.
“It just gets exponentially worse for older employees,” Evans says. “For
While Evans has seen a wide variety of cases during his career, they usually have one thing in common: the uneven balance of power between his clients and employers.
They’re not just an individual taking on a former employer – they are especially vulnerable after being fired and unsure where their next paycheque is going to come from.
“It’s such a difficult point in time for the client and their family,” Evans says. “These are often people who have been targeted unlawfully for mistreatment, and they may not have another job for a while.
“And yet, a lot of people just don’t get legal advice.”
Spotlight
Evans recently sat down for an interview with Canadian HR Reporter. He looked back on his career and highlighted recent trends in the workplace that are keeping him busy as one of the country’s hardest-working labour lawyers.
Evans grew up in Acton, just west of Toronto, before leaving for university and earning a business degree, then an honours BA from the University of Guelph, and, finally, his law degree from the University of New Brunswick.
Evans’ maverick approach to doing things his way emerged early in his career. After articling for a firm in Toronto, he took the unusual step of starting his own practice immediately after being called to the Ontario bar. He ran the practice for 10 years until it merged with another firm.
Over the next 20 years, Evans would go on to defend the rights of Canadian employees and executives in both private practice and as the head of a legal department of eight lawyers for the largest construction union in North America – overseeing all aspects of their litigation, which was significant.
He’s now back where he has always felt most at home, running his own firm and enjoying the freedom to take on challenging cases and craft strategies that are tailored to the unique needs of every client.
One of the most frequent disputes he deals with today is wrongful dismissal, a legal area that has an incredibly wide variety of causes, conflicts, and eventual resolutions.
Evans Law Firm is a highly experienced, personalized litigation, employment, and labour law firm for plaintiffs. To provide clients with the best service and utilization of his expertise, John Evans has restricted his law practice to representing only employees, working professionals, and executives in employment-related disputes and not corporations. Evans Law Firm specializes in Constructive Dismissal Claims or Concerns, Employee Compensation, Employment Contracts, Employment Litigation, Employment Restrictions in Your Employment Contract, Executive Employment, Group Litigation and Employment Class Actions, Human Rights, Injunctions, Pensions, Pro-Active Employment Advice, Workplace Harassment, Wrongful Termination, and more. To find out more, visit https://www.evanslawfirm.ca/ and obtain some preliminary information relating to your situation and needs.
Company Profile
1983
YEAR FOUNDED
100
MANPOWER
43%
PROPORTION OF WOMEN AMONG FUNDSERV EMPLOYEES
60%
PROPORTION OF WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP
63,514,128
NUMBER OF ORDERS PROCESSED IN 2019
Bio
Spotlight
Milestones
Media
Accolades
Company Profile
Years as lawyer
30+
Tenure at current position
2017 - Present
Approach to client service
Evans believes that the ability to develop and execute a sound litigation strategy for every client is fundamental to achieving the best possible result. He achieves this by focusing on each case’s unique objectives and facts, allowing him to provide his clients with a particular strategy that will meet their goals
John Evans
Principal at Evans Law Firm
Labour lawyer John Evans helps Canadian employees and executives confront wrongful dismissal and employment-related claims
Read on
“I see a lot of trumped-up allegations against employees and executives who have been fired”
John Evans,
Evans Law Firm
Share
2017 Hot List Recipient
2020 Hot List Recipient
2021 CEO of the Year
Accolades
Media
Milestones
2011
2012
2015
2016
2019
2021
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
2016
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
2019
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
Fundserv is the indispensable connectivity hub for the Canadian investment industry. Headquartered in Toronto, we electronically connect Manufacturers, Distributors, and Intermediaries, enabling them to buy, sell, and transfer investment funds. With more than 100 employees, Fundserv serves hundreds of members—executing up to 63 million yearly network transactions—and provides online access to more than 70,000 investment fund products.
Established in 1993, Fundserv is a private corporation that is owned by the industry we serve. Our 10 shareholders are a cross-section of Manufacturers, Distributors, and Service Providers who represent our members.
We operate using a cost-recovery model, meaning any unused profit may be rebated back to our members. In addition to our network and applications, we lead and facilitate industry committees and working groups that promote automation initiatives and establish the industry’s electronic standards.
By ensuring every trade is processed timely, accurately, and securely, Fundserv has rightfully earned a reputation for service excellence—a hallmark of more than 25 years in the investment industry.
Company Profile
1983
YEAR FOUNDED
100
MANPOWER
43%
PROPORTION OF WOMEN AMONG FUNDSERV EMPLOYEES
60%
PROPORTION OF WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP
63,514,128
NUMBER OF ORDERS PROCESSED IN 2019
Years as lawyer
30+
Tenure at current position
2017 - Present
BAsed In
Toronto, Ont.
Approach to client service
Evans believes that the ability to develop and execute a sound litigation strategy for every client is fundamental to achieving the best possible result. He achieves this by focusing on each case’s unique objectives and facts, allowing him to provide his clients with a particular strategy that will meet their goals
Karen Adams
President and CEO at Fundserv
Before becoming CEO of Fundserv, Karen Adams held a variety of leadership roles around the world – and she learned that listening and understanding are key to both providing service and developing talent
Read on
Share
Share
Milestones
2011
2012
2015
2016
2019
2021
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
2012
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
2016
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
2019
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
Fundserv is the indispensable connectivity hub for the Canadian investment industry. Headquartered in Toronto, we electronically connect Manufacturers, Distributors, and Intermediaries, enabling them to buy, sell, and transfer investment funds. With more than 100 employees, Fundserv serves hundreds of members—executing up to 63 million yearly network transactions—and provides online access to more than 70,000 investment fund products.
Established in 1993, Fundserv is a private corporation that is owned by the industry we serve. Our 10 shareholders are a cross-section of Manufacturers, Distributors, and Service Providers who represent our members.
We operate using a cost-recovery model, meaning any unused profit may be rebated back to our members. In addition to our network and applications, we lead and facilitate industry committees and working groups that promote automation initiatives and establish the industry’s electronic standards.
By ensuring every trade is processed timely, accurately, and securely, Fundserv has rightfully earned a reputation for service excellence—a hallmark of more than 25 years in the investment industry.
Company Profile
Years as lawyer
30+
Tenure at current position
2017 - Present
BAsed In
Toronto, Ont.
Approach to client service
Evans believes that the ability to develop and execute a sound litigation strategy for every client is fundamental to achieving the best possible result. He achieves this by focusing on each case’s unique objectives and facts, allowing him to provide his clients with a particular strategy that will meet their goals
Karen Adams
President and CEO at Fundserv
Career highlight
Before becoming CEO of Fundserv, Karen Adams held a variety of leadership roles around the world – and she learned that listening and understanding are key to both providing service and developing talent
Read on
IN Partnership with
In Partnership with
In Partnership with
xxxx
1991
xxxx
1993
2006
xxxx
Earned business degree, then an honours BA from the University of Guelph
XXX
Earned law degree from the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Law
1991
Became head of legal at the Labourers International Union of North America, Local 183
xxxx
Called to the Law Society of Upper Canada (now Law Society of Ontario)
1993
Recognized by LSO as Certified Specialist in Labour Law
2006
Founded Evans Law Firm, a private wholly owned legal practice focusing on practising litigation, employment, labour law
xxxx
Milestones
Path to labour law
Conclusion
Published 10 July 2023
Find out more
Find out more
Find out more
Find out more
Legal philosophy
“There is no one-size-fits-all approach to developing and executing a proper legal strategy”
“At the end of the day, it’s all about how much money you can put in the pocket of your client”
John Evans,
Evans Law Firm
Unfair dismissal
someone who’s 60, it’s almost impossible to find employment that is a reasonable and comparable alternative.”
Evans also handles cases where an employer will claim they had “just cause” for terminating an employee and seek to deny them any compensation. This then unlocks a wide range of legal avenues for the fired worker. Evans will look at the validity of the cause, whether it was serious, and what the client’s entire record of employment looks like – with the understanding that just cause cases are very hard for employers to prove.
Whether terminations are with cause or without cause, Evans says fired employees have a number of legal responses to ensure their claims are given serious consideration.
Another area where Evans sees a rising number of disputes is with non-compete clauses, which are an employer’s attempt to restrict where a former employee can work in the future.
“There is a lot of movement in both Canada and the US against these restrictive covenants because they limit a person’s ability to work in their field and earn a living. You used to have to jump through a lot of hoops in court but now it’s much more streamlined. Ontario, for example, has passed legislation and outlawed non-competition provisions except for a very narrow group of senior executives.”
However, Evans says employers have attempted to get around the changes. While non-competition provisions are being phased out, they are increasingly being replaced by provisions around overly broad non-solicitation clauses. This means that while former employees now have more freedom to seek work elsewhere in their field, there may be restrictions that prevent them from hiring or starting up a business with former colleagues.
“We’re seeing a creeping encroachment of restrictive and unlawful non-compete covenants being built into provisions involving non-solicitation and other covenants,” Evans says.
Another area of concern is the push around confidentiality. Whereas the law used to prevent employees from taking tangible information like customer lists, today more employers are trying to use confidentiality provisions to prevent former employees from earning a living with the information acquired during their employment.
More recently, the courts have allowed terminated employees and executives to compete against their prior employer with information that was previously deemed to be confidential.
“This is one of the next booms in the law,” Evans says. “How will the courts interpret these restrictive covenants involving solicitation and confidentiality when they essentially do what earlier non-competition provisions did?”
Restrictions on future work
Evans says a key part of his job is not just winning a claim on behalf of his client but also ensuring they receive sufficient compensation for their claim and that such monies are properly and fairly allocated between income and damages, or statutory violations.
He cites an example where an employee has been induced to join a company with a promise of more money, stock options, or other incentives but is then let go shortly thereafter because the company has changed its strategy or hired a new executive team with different ideas.
“They could be making $100,000 in their former job and get poached with an offer of $150,000 and stock options in a company with a represented valuation of $50 million. But when they are terminated, it turns out the company was only worth $2 million.
Evans says this case now involves two claims: the termination of the employment contract as well as a negligent misrepresentation of the company’s value. And this is particularly important because income claims are subject to tax while damage claims like negligent misrepresentation and statutory violations are not.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about how much money you can put in the pocket of your client,” Evans says. “It’s something I care about as someone who’s spent 30 years arguing and negotiating these cases.”
Negotiating damages
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Legal philosophy
“There is no one-size-fits-all approach to developing and executing a proper legal strategy”
2012
Copyright © 2023 KM Business Information Canada Ltd.
RSS
Advisory board
Authors
Enquiry
About us
Terms of Use
External contributors
Privacy
Contact us
Advertise
Newsletter
News
Focus Areas
Resources
Best in HR
Subscribe
Legal philosophy
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to developing and executing a proper legal strategy
Copyright © 2023 KM Business Information Canada Ltd.
RSS
Advisory board
Authors
Enquiry
About us
Terms of Use
External contributors
Privacy
Contact us
Advertise
Newsletter
News
Focus Areas
Resources
Best in HR
Subscribe
While Evans has seen a wide variety of cases during his career, they usually have one thing in common: the uneven balance of power between his clients and employers.
They’re not just an individual taking on a former employer – they are especially vulnerable after being fired and unsure where their next paycheque is going to come from.
“It’s such a difficult point in time for the client and their family,” Evans says. “These are often people who have been targeted unlawfully for mistreatment, and they may not have another job for a while.
“And yet, a lot of people just don’t get legal advice.”
Conclusion
Evans says a key part of his job is not just winning a claim on behalf of his client but also ensuring they receive sufficient compensation for their claim and that such monies are properly and fairly allocated between income and damages, or statutory violations.
He cites an example where an employee has been induced to join a company with a promise of more money, stock options, or other incentives but is then let go shortly thereafter because the company has changed its strategy or hired a new executive team with different ideas.
“They could be making $100,000 in their former job and get poached with an offer of $150,000 and stock options in a company with a represented valuation of $50 million. But when they are terminated, it turns out the company was only worth $2 million.
Evans says this case now involves two claims: the termination of the employment contract as well as a negligent misrepresentation of the company’s value. And this is particularly important because income claims are subject to tax while damage claims like negligent misrepresentation and statutory violations are not.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about how much money you can put in the pocket of your client,” Evans says. “It’s something I care about as someone who’s spent 30 years arguing and negotiating these cases.”
Negotiating damages
Another area where Evans sees a rising number of disputes is with non-compete clauses, which are an employer’s attempt to restrict where a former employee can work in the future.
“There is a lot of movement in both Canada and the US against these restrictive covenants because they limit a person’s ability to work in their field and earn a living. You used to have to jump through a lot of hoops in court but now it’s much more streamlined. Ontario, for example, has passed legislation and outlawed non-competition provisions except for a very narrow group of senior executives.”
However, Evans says employers have attempted to get around the changes. While non-competition provisions are being phased out, they are increasingly being replaced by provisions around overly broad non-solicitation clauses. This means that while former employees now have more freedom to seek work elsewhere in their field, there may be restrictions that prevent them from hiring or starting up a business with former colleagues.
“We’re seeing a creeping encroachment of restrictive and unlawful non-compete covenants being built into provisions involving non-solicitation and other covenants,” Evans says.
Another area of concern is the push around confidentiality. Whereas the law used to prevent employees from taking tangible information like customer lists, today more employers are trying to use confidentiality provisions to prevent former employees from earning a living with the information acquired during their employment.
More recently, the courts have allowed terminated employees and executives to compete against their prior employer with information that was previously deemed to be confidential.
“This is one of the next booms in the law,” Evans says. “How will the courts interpret these restrictive covenants involving solicitation and confidentiality when they essentially do what earlier non-competition provisions did?”
Restrictions on future work
“I see a lot of trumped-up allegations against employees and executives who have been fired,” Evans says. “I even had a case recently where the employer claimed that our client wanted to be terminated, which was completely false.”
As more workers are fired during a downturn in the economy, he says they need to challenge unfair dismissals and ensure they are fairly compensated because they may be out of work for a long period of time, especially if they are older workers. Evans says it’s his responsibility to ensure that clients aren’t leaving money on the table.
“It just gets exponentially worse for older employees,” Evans says. “For
Most of Evans’ cases involve allegations of wrongful dismissal, where an employee or group of employees believes they have been wrongly terminated because of the amount they were offered and concerns about human rights issues including their age, disability, or other reasons not related to their performance. This can be difficult to prove because there’s rarely a smoking gun that clearly points to the cause of termination.
“It’s more complicated,” Evans says. “I recently started working with someone who was terminated at 60, but an employer isn’t just going to say they’re firing you because of age because that’s a breach of contract and discrimination under the Human Rights Code.”
These types of cases require research into the background of the employee as well as the circumstances and timing of the termination to determine if it was improperly motivated.
Unfair dismissal
Evans recently sat down for an interview with Canadian HR Reporter. He looked back on his career and highlighted recent trends in the workplace that are keeping him busy as one of the country’s hardest-working labour lawyers.
Evans grew up in Acton, just west of Toronto, before leaving for university and earning a business degree, then an honours BA from the University of Guelph, and, finally, his law degree from the University of New Brunswick.
Evans’ maverick approach to doing things his way emerged early in his career. After articling for a firm in Toronto, he took the unusual step of starting his own practice immediately after being called to the Ontario bar. He ran the practice for 10 years until it merged with another firm.
Over the next 20 years, Evans would go on to defend the rights of Canadian employees and executives in both private practice and as the head of a legal department of eight lawyers for the largest construction union in North America – overseeing all aspects of their litigation, which was significant.
He’s now back where he has always felt most at home, running his own firm and enjoying the freedom to take on challenging cases and craft strategies that are tailored to the unique needs of every client.
One of the most frequent disputes he deals with today is wrongful dismissal, a legal area that has an incredibly wide variety of causes, conflicts, and eventual resolutions.
Path to labour law
“It’s in my DNA,” Evans says. “I love helping employees and executives who find themselves in a difficult situation because they’ve lost their job or experienced mistreatment. Am I a workaholic? Yes, but in a good way because I love what I do.”
Over the years, Evans has earned a well-deserved reputation as a fierce and tireless advocate for Canadian employees and executives, and the desire to win doesn’t end when the office closes.
Asked how he unwinds after work, he says he plays golf – though Evans’ approach to golf looks a lot like his approach to defending his clients.
“I’m a member of three courses,” he says. “Okay, it’s a bit excessive but I love the camaraderie. I also love the competitiveness.”
John Evans has been a tireless defender of Canadian employees for more than 30 years.
He’s won cases involving unfair dismissal, injunctions, restrictions on future employment, and various forms of mistreatment – while constantly keeping up to date with evolving laws, regulations, and social dynamics in the modern workplace.
Succeeding as an employment lawyer in Canada today clearly requires a great deal of knowledge and passion. It also doesn’t hurt to be a workaholic.
A lawyer’s fight for employee rights
Spotlight
Published 10 July 2023