Friday, November 25th, 2011
In a recent case coming out of the Court of Queen’s Bench of New Brunswick, the Court believed the employee’s story that he was terminated without cause, rather than the employer’s story that the employee resigned. When looking at the facts, the Court found the employee to be the more credible witness and awarded termination notice of 23 months.
Read the rest of this post »Thursday, October 27th, 2011
Stock options and stock grants have become normal and expected elements of executive compensation in Canada. Stock options are generally granted to executive employees as a means of creating a common purpose or goal between senior employees and the company. The valuation of these options, and the employee’s entitlement to exercise them, has been an issue in many wrongful dismissal actions.
Read the rest of this post »Thursday, August 4th, 2011
I always advise clients to consider their options when they must dismiss an individual (assuming it is without cause). Rather than automatically offering a package, and paying the employee not to work, I encourage our clients to consider whether a period of working notice could be viable. By doing so, at least they would get some value for their money. However, I often think back to a comment made by Mr. Justice Donnelly of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, who, in the course of considering a wrongful dismissal claim, opined that “[w]orking notice is an institution almost invariably predestined to fail.”
Read the rest of this post »Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
I read an interesting case recently that could be considered controversial: an employer was permitted to contract out of its human rights obligations with some vulnerable employees who were at an economic disadvantage and who experienced significant language barriers. How did the employer accomplish this? The employer added a provision in its termination letter that offered the employees consideration in exchange for signing releases preventing them from launching a human rights complaint.
Read the rest of this post »Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
A recent Ontario case dealt with an employee’s misconduct that clearly amounted to just cause for termination; however, the employee was still entitled to termination pay.
Read the rest of this post »Friday, February 18th, 2011
The mitigation of damages has become a hot employment law issue. In this recent British Columbia case, the employee was entitled to damages for wrongful dismissal after the employer terminated her during the economic downturn. Although the employer argued that the employee failed to mitigate her damages when she did not accept the employer’s subsequent offer of re-employment, the Court found that the uncertainty of work and payment was such that the employee did not act unreasonably when she declined the job offer. Thus, the employee was entitled to 12 months’ termination notice.
Read the rest of this post »Friday, December 3rd, 2010
In a recent post, I discussed an example of the employer doing the right thing. Unfortunately, today’s story is an example of the employer doing the wrong thing.
Read the rest of this post »Friday, January 22nd, 2010
I recently read an Alberta case where a financial consultant, a top performer, was terminated without notice. The court found he was wrongfully dismissed and terminated in an insensitive manner; this error in judgment cost the employer $2.2 million in damages.
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Leslie D Foreman:Andrew Taillon:
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