r/simonfraser • u/moonl1ghtgraham • 2d ago

Fluff SFU Vice-President, Finance and Administration Received $340,000 severance after one year stint

https://www.publicsectorcompensation.gov.bc.ca/executive-compensation-disclosures/2025-2026/128740/Simon-Fraser-University-ECD-2026pdf

Jon Harding joined SFU in Jan 2025 as VP, Finance and Administration. In this year's executive compensation disclosure it shows that his employment already concluded, receiving $340k severance and total compensation of $573k in 2025. Anyone know what happened?

74 Upvotes

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35

u/Affectionate-Ruin232 2d ago

wow, and only 8 months of work

25

u/Advanced-Line-5942 2d ago

It’s highly likely they recruited/headhunted him for the position.

If a company lures an employee away from another company they generally have to honour all their tenure and seniority when calculating severance.

Relative to his salary it’s probably only around a year. Based on precedents in BC, senior management (especially older ones in specialized areas) a one year severance isn’t out of the ordinary

12

u/moonl1ghtgraham 2d ago

Curious what he did to get canned in less than a year tho

7

u/Advanced-Line-5942 2d ago

At that level it’s likely just a personality clash with his boss.

1

u/RealTradeExperience 1d ago

He wasn’t head hunted

1

u/Advanced-Line-5942 1d ago

Still, read up on Bardal factors for how Canadian courts assess severance. He would still likely qualify for a hefty settlement if there was no cause. Assuming he is over 50, he arguably meets 3 out of the 4 main factors.

“Canadian courts use these four primary criteria to evaluate how long an employee will reasonably need to find a comparable new job:

Character of the Employment: The nature, status, and responsibility level of the job. Specialized, senior, or management roles generally take longer to replace than entry-level positions.

Length of Service (Tenure): How long the employee worked for the company. Longer service typically increases the notice period because deeply entrenched or specialized skills can be harder to transfer.

Age of the Employee: The age of the individual at the time of dismissal. Older employees often face more difficulty securing alternative employment due to market biases or proximity to retirement.

Availability of Similar Employment: The state of the job market and whether positions matching the employee’s experience, training, and qualifications actually exist.”

9

u/Unhappy-Muffin-2318 2d ago

mortgage subsidy??

5

u/Different-Aside6612 1d ago

absolutely disgraceful squandering of student money . . . . Cannot be justified in any way shape or form.

-7

u/okusi741 2d ago

We will never know what happened but for sure we know it's gonna be another tuition hike because of this. Too much of this bs caused the tuition hiked and will hike again and again.

8

u/I_Am_A_Sloth_ 2d ago

tuition is literally capped by the government

1

u/okusi741 1d ago

Check out the international tuitions. There has to be a way to fill up the hole.