Robert asked:

For the purpose of termination with a severance package, if the employee refuses to meet with their supervisor is it appropriate to send the documents via email or registered mail? The company is in Alberta.

Representative, Employment Standards Branch answered:

An officer from the Employment Standards Branch noted that the Act does not address this issue, but said that this does come up often when employees do not want to deal with a termination.

The advice she offered was based on the assumption that the employee has been advised that he/she is being terminated.

In that case, the officer said that as the employer she would recommend you go to the highest standard of delivery to protect yourself, by sending the notice through registered mail.

You will want to keep records demonstrating that you sent the notice and that you knew the employee's address was correct. This way, if the employee refuses to pick-up the mail, the responsibility will shift away from the employer to the employee.

Also, the officer recommended that you send the information to the employee via email with a "request read" receipt on the email in addition to using registered mail.

Finally, after the registered letter is sent, she advised that you send another letter as a follow-up, just so that you can demonstrate that you have gone above and beyond what was required of you to ensure the employee received notice.

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