just cause for dismissal

Just cause for dismissal: context is key

October 15, 2018 Vey Willetts LLP Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Health and Safety, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll

Determining what conduct amounts to just cause for dismissal is no easy task. In part this is due to just cause being inherently situation specific. When describing what may constitute just cause, employment lawyers often refer to extreme examples: think of situations where a public-facing employee makes repeated racial slurs to a customer or commits […]

drunk driving, employment law, just cause for dismissal, privacy, safety at work, termination

Employee’s secret recording of meetings with management contributes to finding of just cause for dismissal

January 3, 2018 Employer Advisor, McCarthy Tétrault LLP Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Health and Safety, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Training and Development, Uncategorized

A recent decision from the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench supports that an employee’s use of his work phone to secretly record meetings with management may support an employer’s decision to terminate for just cause.

anti-harassment policies, breach of confidentiality, employee complaints, employment law, harassment, harassment in the workplace, just cause for dismissal, privacy, termination, termination for cause

The fork in the road: after-acquired cause for dismissal

October 6, 2017 Rudner Law, Employment / HR Law & Mediation Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll, Wages and Compensation

In Canada, employers can dismiss employees in one of two ways: with cause or without cause. If an employer dismisses an employee without cause, and then later discovers that they had been stealing from the company for years, can they now allege just cause for dismissal?

after acquired cause, bad faith litigation tactics, contract of employment, dismissal with cause, dismissal without cause, employee’s post-repudiation breach, employment law, just cause defence, just cause for dismissal, principle of repudiation, reasonable notice of termination, repudiation of the employment contract, severance package, termination

Termination clauses – The legal debate

November 4, 2016 Rudner Law, Employment / HR Law & Mediation Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits, Source Deductions and Reporting, Union Relations, Wages and Compensation

It appears that the saga of judicial interpretation and consideration of termination clauses will continue, with predictably unpredictable results. Courts will enforce termination clauses that limit an individual’s entitlement to notice of dismissal, but the onus will be on the employer to show that the clause should be enforced.

common law, common law obligation, consideration, dismissal without cause, employment contract, employment law, employment standards act, Employment Standards legislation, Garreton v Complete Innovations Inc., just cause for dismissal, notice of dismissal, reasonable notice, Severance pay, termination clauses, termination pay

Supreme Court of Canada rules that employees of federally-regulated employers cannot be dismissed without cause

August 3, 2016 De Bousquet PC Barristers and Solicitors Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Union Relations

The impact of this decision will likely be very substantial for a number of reasons. By requiring federally-regulated employers to always provide just cause when terminating non-unionized employees, the Court significantly expanded on the common law and statutory protections available to a large part of the working population. As a consequence of this decision, employees of federally-regulated employers will now be awarded a significantly higher degree of employment protection than their colleagues in the private sector, whose rights are largely governed by less protective provincial laws.

Canada labour Code, common law, dismissal of non-unionized employees, employment contract, employment law, employment protection, federally regulated employers, just cause for dismissal, non-unionized employee, progressive-discipline program, statutory protections, unjust dismissal

Refusing to relocate: Just cause for dismissal?

July 8, 2016 Rudner Law, Employment / HR Law & Mediation Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits, Wages and Compensation

It is not uncommon for an organization to move their offices, or to “transfer” an employee from one location to another. Sometimes, the move is across the street, while other moves are across the country or farther. What happens if an employee refuses to relocate?

constructive dismissal, employee transfer, employment contract, employment law, just cause for dismissal, new terms of employment, office move, proper notice, Refusing to relocate, Relocation, repudiation of the employment contract, terms of employment, Transfers, unilateral and substantial changes

When your employee is arrested

March 4, 2016 Rudner Law, Employment / HR Law & Mediation Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits, Wages and Compensation

What is an employer to do when it discovers that one of their employees has been arrested? In many cases, the employer’s knee-jerk reaction will be to dismiss the employee, particularly where the charges relate to more unsavoury conduct. However, the law is clear that like most off-duty conduct, being charged with a criminal offence will not, in and of itself, be just cause for dismissal.

criminal allegations, criminal offence, Disciplinary measures, employee is charged with unsavoury criminal acts, employment law, just cause for dismissal, off-duty conduct, unsavoury conduct

A brief overview of just cause cases

September 25, 2015 Rudner Law, Employment / HR Law & Mediation Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll, Union Relations

As any follower of Canadian employment law already knows, there are many grey areas and very few “black-and-white” rules. One of the greyer areas is summary dismissal; evaluating when an employer has just cause to terminate the employment relationship is fraught with uncertainty. Contrary to popular belief, there are no absolute rules and there are no types of misconduct that will guarantee the existence of just cause for dismissal.

employment contract, employment law, employment relationship, Human Rights Board, just cause, just cause for dismissal, summary dismissal, termination, terminations, wrongful dismissal

Summary dismissal in Canada is complex

June 16, 2015 Rudner Law, Employment / HR Law & Mediation Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll

By now, regular readers should understand that summary dismissal in Canada is complex, and assessing whether or not just cause for dismissal exists requires much more than consideration of the alleged misconduct in isolation.

alleged misconduct, Court must assess whether the employment relationship has been damaged beyond repair, employment law, employment relationship, just cause for dismissal, just cause is not a lost cause, summary dismissal in Canada

Building the just cause wall brick by brick

January 19, 2015 Rudner Law, Employment / HR Law & Mediation Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Union Relations

I am often asked what it takes to prove that summary dismissal is warranted. Can a single incident of misconduct be sufficient? What about a series of less serious incidents?

behaviour fell below any reasonable standard of conduct, canadian employment law, cumulative just cause, disciplinary incident, discipline, dismissal letter, employment law, fired for a series of relatively minor transgressions, insubordination, just cause for dismissal, misconduct, performance and conduct, poor performance, summary dismissal, termination

Assessing whether just cause is warranted: A yearly review

November 7, 2014 Rudner Law, Employment / HR Law & Mediation Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll, Wages and Compensation

In the course of updating my text, You’re Fired! Just Cause for Dismissal in Canada, I review every single court and arbitrator’s decision dealing with just cause for dismissal. Not surprisingly, these can be pretty entertaining. However, the cases also confirm a few truths:

alleged misconduct cannot be considered in isolation, claims of wrongful dismissal, employee was guilty of misconduct, employment law, just cause for dismissal, summary dismissal, termination, terminations, You’re Fired! Just Cause for Dismissal in Canada

Investigations have become an integral part of HR and employment law

October 3, 2014 Rudner Law, Employment / HR Law & Mediation Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Health and Safety, HR Policies and Procedures, HRMS, Human Resources, Human Rights, Union Relations

Investigations have become an integral part of HR and employment law, and an employee’s conduct in the course of an investigation can be the difference between summary dismissal and some lesser form of punishment.

disciplinary meeting, dishonesty during the course of the investigation, employee’s conduct in the course of an investigation, Employers must investigate any alleged wrongdoing, employment law, employment relationship has been irreparably harmed, just cause for dismissal, misconduct, post-incident conduct, risk of asbestos contamination, safety violation, summary dismissal, worker’s safety complaint

Three popular articles this week on HRinfodesk

June 12, 2014 Yosie Saint-Cyr, LL.B. Managing Editor Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Health and Safety, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits, Source Deductions and Reporting, Wages and Compensation

Three popular articles this week on HRinfodesk deal with retiring allowance and vesting of pension benefits; after-acquired cause to justify termination; and workplace drug test.

after acquired cause, employer's pension plan, employment law, HRinfodesk, Income Tax Act, just cause for dismissal, just cause to terminate, Newsletter, retiring allowance, RRSP, soliciting illegal drugs, termination, terminations, vesting of pension benefits, workplace drug test

The importance of workplace investigations

May 2, 2014 Rudner Law, Employment / HR Law & Mediation Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Health and Safety, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Union Relations

As I head to Osgoode Professional Development for module 3 of the course that my partner and I are Directors of, HR Law for HR Professionals, I am contemplating one of the aspects of HR law that has changed significantly in recent years: investigations.

allegations of harassment, allegations of misconduct, assessment of investigations, disciplinary action, dismissing an employee on a without cause, duty to investigate, employer's failure to investigate, employment relationship, HR Law, HR Law for HR Professionals, investigations, just cause for dismissal, Osgoode Professional Development, summary dismissal, workplace investigations

Employers may be able to rely upon after-acquired cause

March 7, 2014 Rudner Law, Employment / HR Law & Mediation Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Human Resources, Notice, Damages and Settlements, Payroll

Although I have been known to reassure employers that “just cause is not a lost cause”, it is fair to say that the threshold for establishing that summary dismissal is warranted is a difficult one to meet in most circumstances. One question that often arises is what an employer is to do when they only learned of reasons for dismissal after the dismissal has already taken place. This can occur in situations where an employee was dismissed on a without cause basis, or in situations where the termination was for cause. Either way, the issue is what an employer can do with subsequently obtained information, which is typically referred to as “after-acquired cause”.

after acquired cause, employment law, evidence of misconduct, just cause, just cause for dismissal, post-termination conduct, reasons for dismissal, summary dismissal, termination, termination without cause, terminations, wrongful dismissal