Mitigation
If the employee is entitled to reasonable notice under the common law, then the employee has a duty to mitigate their damages, which means that they have a duty to take reasonable steps to find comparable employment.
Probationary Periods
In the recent case of Van Wyngaarden v Thumper Massager Inc., the Ontario Divisional Court confirmed that unless a dismissal is in bad faith, an employer is entitled to dismiss an employee during the probationary period without cause and without notice.
Severance Pay and the Issue of Payroll
The most common requirements for an employee to be eligible for severance pay is that the employer must have a payroll of at least $2.5 million, and the employee must have been employed for at least 5 years.
Termination Clauses
Over the past few years, we have seen countless cases in which dismissed employees have argued that, for one reason or another, they should not be held to the terms of the termination clause in their employment agreement. While the cases have taken a variety of approaches and made it difficult to identify a guiding principle that would withstand the next decision, the recent trend seems to be a willingness to enforce the intent of the parties.
Drinking and Driving May NOT be Cause for Dismissal
Previous court decisions have confirmed that an employee’s conduct outside of work may form the basis for the termination of their employment. However, not all misconduct outside of work will constitute just cause, as confirmed in the recent British Columbia Supreme Court case of Klonteig v. District of West Kelowna, 2018 BCSC 124.
Income from Second Job CAN be Mitigation
It is trite to say that dismissed employees have a duty to mitigate their damages by seeking replacement employment. But what happens if they are successful? Does that mean that their entitlement to compensation for the dismissal is reduced? In…
An Employee’s Entitlement to a Bonus: Still Unsettled?
More often than not, an employee that is dismissed does not receive their bonus for the year in which they were let go. In many cases, they don’t even receive the bonus that has already accrued, such as when they…
The fork in the road: after-acquired cause for dismissal
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…
What do you do if your employee is ‘one of them’?
In almost all cases, you will be able to terminate the relationship The recent events in the southern United States involving demonstrations by "white nationalists" (also known as white supremacists or neo-Nazis) have rocked North America. As photos and video…
Negotiating the severance package
In many dismissals without cause, the parties engage in extended negotiations regarding the severance package that the dismissed employee will receive. If negotiations fail, litigation may ensue. Where there is no enforceable termination clause in place, there is ambiguity regarding…
