Tag: Termination of Employment

Court Disapproves of Employee’s Surreptitious Recordings of Meetings with Employer

· 3 min read

In Hart v Parrish & Heimbecker, a trial judge recently upheld the dismissal of a 42-year old Merchandising Manager (Plaintiff) with 15 of years service, for a series of separate incidents that he had with peers and subordinates. The Plaintiff had engaged in inappropriate conduct which included repeatedly yelling at employees, displaying excessive anger and…

The Supreme Court’s Decision on Proving Mental Injury and its Implications for Employers

· 3 min read

In a recent decision, Saadati v. Moorhead, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously held that proof of a recognized psychiatric injury is no longer necessary to award damages for mental injuries caused by negligence. Although this finding was made in the context of a personal injury case, it may have implications for employers. The plaintiff/appellant…

The Truth Hurts: Employer Not Liable In Defamation For Bad Reference Because It Was True

· 4 min read

The Ontario Superior Court has affirmed that employers are not liable for defamation when they provide candid and truthful references about former employees. In Papp v Stokes et al, 2017 ONSC 2357, the plaintiff, Adam Papp, worked as an economist for Stokes Economic Consulting for 2.5 years when his employment was terminated without cause in…

Fixed-Term Contract Termination Provision Violates ESA, Says Appeal Court

· 4 min read

The Ontario Court of Appeal has again weighed in on the issue of termination provisions in employment contracts. By way of background, we recently reported on the February 2017 decision of the Court of Appeal in Wood v Fred Deeley Imports Ltd. In that case, the Court reversed a motion judge’s conclusion that a termination…

Can Americans Who Work for Ontario Companies in the United States Opt into Ontario’s Minimum Standards?

· 4 min read

A recent decision of the Ontario Labour Relations Board considered whether the Ministry of Labour and the Board can enforce an employment contract with an Ontario “choice of law” provision and references to the Employment Standards Act, 2000, where the work under the contract was performed mostly outside Ontario…

Supreme Court of Canada Majority Rules “Unjust Dismissal” Provisions of Canada Labour Code Prohibit Without Cause Dismissals of Non-Unionized Employees

· 8 min read

In an important decision for federally regulated employers, Wilson v. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, a majority of the Supreme Court of Canada has found the “unjust dismissal” provisions of Part III of the Canada Labour Code (Code) prohibit “without cause” dismissal of non-managerial, non-unionized employees with at least 12 months consecutive service, thereby allowing those employees to access the remedial relief (reasons, reinstatement, equitable relief) available under the Code.

Employer’s Egregious Mistreatment of Disabled Employee Leads to Increase in Damages Award

· 4 min read

In a recent wrongful dismissal case, Strudwick v. Applied Consumer & Clinical Evaluations Inc., the Court of Appeal increased the amount of damages awarded to an employee from $113,782 to $240,000, for what the Court of Appeal described as “a marked departure from any conceivable standard of decent behaviour” in an employer’s treatment of its employee…