Constructive dismissal is one of the most confusing areas of employment law. Not all employer conduct is sufficient to trigger a legitimate claim for constructive dismissal and conduct that would otherwise seem innocuous may trigger a legitimate claim. What is Constructive Dismissal? Constructive dismissal happens when an employee resigns from their position because the employer…
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While the general rule of thumb for the maximum reasonable notice that a court will award to a terminated employee hovered around 24 months. Regardless of the length of service or other factors, the line in the sand for maximum reasonable notice has slowly eroded over the past few years, particularly in Ontario Courts. This…
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In a recent case from British Columbia, Manak v. Workers’ Compensation Board of British Columbia (cob WorkSafe BC), 2018 BCSC 182, the court held that an employee’s repeated breaches of a confidentiality policy justified the employer to terminate her employment for cause. In employment law, for cause terminations are exceedingly difficult to prove with the…
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In McLeod v. Frontier Sales, 2018 ONSC 1866, the Divisional Court of Ontario dismissed the appeal by an employer who provided working notice to an employee on disability leave and in turn, sought to reduce the amount of reasonable notice that it was required to provide. The case confirms that working notice provided during a…
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In a recent case out of Ontario, Chambers v. Global Traffic Technologies Canada Inc., 2018 ONSC 2000, the court maintained that bonuses earned by an employee prior to termination or during the reasonable notice period are, in fact, payable to the employee despite their being terminated from his/her employment. Additionally, the court awarded nine months’…
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Case Details Late last year, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Hagholm v. Coreio Inc., 2017 ONSC 7713, made a decision that addressed the issue of an employer’s unilateral amendment of an existing employment contract and whether such amendments can result in the constructive dismissal of a long-term employee. The plaintiff, in this case,…
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Whether it is drunken misadventures going viral on the internet, or hostile and negative social media rants, the nagging question remains; can an employer terminate an employee for “just cause” for the employee’s off-duty conduct? The short answer is, it depends. It depends on: the type of conduct; the proximity of the conduct to…
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The Court of Appeal of Alberta recently released its decision in Holm v. AGAT Laboratories Ltd., 2018 ABCA 23. Holm v. AGAT is a case regarding constructive dismissal in which the court focused on termination clauses in the plaintiff’s employment agreement, which limited notice to the minimums required under Alberta’s Employment Standards Code. In…
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A recent decision out of Kelowna, B.C., found a long-term West-Kelowna firefighter, Kerry Klonteig, to be wrongfully terminated after he was arrested for impaired driving in a Fire Department vehicle while off-duty. The plaintiff in Klonteig v. District of West Kelowna, 2018 BCSC 124, who had been a firefighter for the District of West…
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In an undefended case out of Ontario, Horner v. 897469 Ontario Inc. o/a Superior Coatings, 2018 ONSC 121, a short term employee was awarded $10,000 for wrongful termination and an additional $30,000 in aggravated and punitive damages for the aggravation of her known depression and the callous manner of termination when the employer failed…
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