Counsel who understands both sides of the table.
Pelsmakher Law is built around one idea: advice is sharper when it's informed by experience on both sides of the employment relationship. Here's a bit about the firm, and the lawyer behind it.
Big-firm insight. Personal-firm access.
Because we act for both employees and employers, we see how the other side is likely to think before they do, and we put that perspective to work in sharper strategy and clearer advice from the very first conversation.
- You work directly with your lawyer, from your first call through to resolution.
- Plain-English answers and a straight read on where you actually stand: no jargon, no runaround.
- A quick response, without a downtown mega-firm's overhead between you and the person handling your file.
Employment counsel, litigator, and strategic advisor with experience on both sides of workplace law.
Simon Pelsmakher is the founder of Pelsmakher Law and an employment and labour lawyer, representing employees, executives, professionals, and employers across Ontario and Canada. His practice includes wrongful dismissal, constructive dismissal, executive compensation, human rights and workplace discrimination, privacy law, occupational health and safety, and pensions and benefits. Simon also advises employers on day-to-day workplace matters, including drafting employment agreements, workplace policies, codes of conduct, disciplinary correspondence, and termination documents.
Simon's practice has been shaped by experience on virtually every side of workplace law. In private practice, he has represented hundreds of clients in employment disputes, through negotiations, mediations, examinations for discovery, cross-examinations, motions, pre-trials, hearings, and appeals. This experience gives him a practical understanding of how employment claims are assessed, advanced, defended, and resolved.
He has also held senior in-house legal positions with major Canadian and multinational organizations in the retail, food manufacturing, and quick-service restaurant industries. In those roles, he worked directly with human resources leaders, executives, and operational teams on employment and labour matters throughout Canada and the United States. His work included hiring, discipline, accommodation, termination, restructuring, labour relations, workplace investigations, privacy, health and safety, immigration, executive compensation, and litigation strategy.
This combination of private-practice and in-house experience gives Simon direct insight into how employers evaluate legal risk, respond to workplace issues, and make difficult personnel decisions. His work in both Canada and the United States also provides a useful comparative perspective when assessing legal strategies, identifying pressure points, and developing practical solutions for employees and employers.
- Ontario Court of Appeal
- Ontario Superior Court of Justice
- Federal Court
- Ministry of Labour
- Ontario Labour Relations Board
- Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario
- WorkSafe BC
- Financial Services Tribunal
Simon was called to the Ontario Bar in 2019. He earned law degrees in both Canada and the United States through the University of Windsor and University of Detroit Mercy Dual J.D. program, and holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Western University, where he was named to the Dean's Honour List.
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