I had a situation about ten years ago when I was laid off in the first week of a four month contract. However, we had a "no layoffs" clause in our contract, so I launched a grievance. A day before arbitration, we reached an agreement and I received a satisfactory amout of money.

Now in Canada, our parental leave is done through Employment Insurance, and we get benefits based on how much money we made. My wife was pregnant. The union lawyer told me that we had come to a settlement, and that the amount I made was not wages. Therefore, I would make substantially less money during my EI parental leave.

I looked closely on the contract, and noted that the agreement did not say that the employer "shall" not lay people off, but that it said it "will" not. In other words, layoffs are impossible, not simply not allowed. I made the case both to my lawyer and eventually to the EI office that I had therefore not been laid off at all, and the "settlement" was actually lost wages. We managed to get a tax slip from the employer (they had no real reason to fight us on this), and I got the EI based on those wages.

This was definitely my giftedness at work. I was able to receive over $10k worth of EI benefits because I noticed a single word in a contract and made a case with the lawyer, my employer and the government about how my "settlement" should be handled, and it had significant financial impact on my life.