Employment Law

Employees are entitled to reasonable notice upon termination of their employment. However, a termination clause contained in an employment contract may oust the employer’s obligation to provide reasonable notice, so long as the termination clause actually limits the employee’s entitlement to notice, without violating employment standards. A recent Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench case, Nutting …

This case demonstrates the old idiom – don’t go throwing good money at bad. Here, in the recent case from the Ontario Superior Court, Sinnathamby v The Chesterfield Shop Limited, the Plaintiff, Ms. Sinnathamby, was a fourteen year employee at the defendant Chesterfield Shop. The Plaintiff’s employment was terminated for just cause; the Chesterfield Shop alleged …

It is well known that the losing party to a wrongful dismissal lawsuit must pay a portion of the successful party’s legal costs. What however, are the cost consequences of winning damages for insufficient notice of dismissal, but losing any other allegations made in a wrongful dismissal lawsuit? Must the employer pay less costs to the …

Last week, a potential client called and told me they hadn’t been paid in several months. They were employed by a small start-up that couldn’t now afford to pay its employees. The employer was still operating, and wasn’t bankrupt… yet. I told the caller to call the Ministry of Labour, not an employment lawyer. I …

When is a Resignation a Resignation? A resignation is only enforceable if an employer, who should have doubted an employee’s intention to truly quit her job, examined whether such a consequential decision on the employee’s behalf was truly intended. A good example of this line of reasoning comes from the Ontario Superior Court’s recent decision …