Until the late nineties, employees could, generally, only sue their employers for severance upon termination. There was, generally, no way for an employee to also sue his employer for the stress caused by especially harsh or “bad faith” conduct at the time of dismissal. Wallace Damages Then, in 1997, the Supreme Court of Canada, in …
Damages
Punitive damages are monetary compensation awarded to plaintiffs to deter potential wrongdoers from egregious conduct. Punitive Damages concern the defendant’s conduct, not the plaintiff’s loss. In other words, punitive damages awards are not “compensatory”. Instead, punitive damages are meant to punish the defendant in rare cases where the defendant’s conduct has been “malicious, oppressive and high-handed” …