Presumably, the courts consideration in these cases has been that any claim for termination of the earlier employment should be made to the vendor or former owner of the business. In the third type of transaction, an amalgamation, two corporations become one. In law, all of the contracts the two pre-amalgamation corporations entered into continue to be valid and binding on the amalgamated corporation. Therefore, like the first scenario, there would be no change to David's employment. The employer, generally speaking, has no obligation to the new employee beyond the probationary period.
Probationary periods are usually three to six months in duration.
If anyone is unionized and has a specific concern, they should refer to the collective agreement and seek advice from their union representative. The provisions of the Alberta Employment Standards Code referred to above do not apply to unionized workers. However, the Alberta Labour Relations Code, and similar federal and other provincial legislation provide that where a business or undertaking is sold, leased, transferred, or merged with another business or undertaking, the certified trade union's certification remains in effect and the collective agreement applies to and binds the new owner of the business or undertaking. In Canada, there are two recent examples of unionized employees being affected by a merger or acquisition. The first occurred in Ontario as a result of the provincial government's decision to amalgamate or merge a number of municipalities into the City of Toronto.