Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
by Kyla Stott-Jess The Alberta Court of Appeal has released its first decision of 2017—Styles v. Alberta Investment Management Corporation, 2017 ABCA 1—and it is undoubtedly welcome news (and a nice gift) to employers. The issue of whether or not a dismissed employee is entitled to bonus compensation during the period of reasonable notice has […]
by Rachel Younan Recent case law has overwhelmingly rejected termination clauses that purport to limit an employee’s entitlements upon termination to the minimum notice required by applicable employment standards legislation. In Ontario, provisions that have failed to reference severance pay and/or benefit continuation have been found to be invalid, resulting in common law notice that […]
by Jacqueline Gant The highest court in Ontario recently ordered an employer to pay out a whopping three years of compensation to a 23-month employee terminated without cause. The employee was entitled to his full salary and benefits for the remainder of the five-year fixed-term employment contract. The contract did not clearly say otherwise. In […]
by Kevin O’Neill, Q.C. In Canada, in Hall v. Quicksilver Resources Canada Inc., 2015 BCCA 291, the British Columbia Court of Appeal addressed two important termination and severance issues: 1. In the sale of a business, when and how do an employee’s years of service continue to bind the purchaser? 2. What is the proper […]
By Richard E. Johnston In Canada, the wording of incentive plans can have a significant impact on the payments required on termination without cause. This point was highlighted by three Ontario decisions earlier this year.
by Bonny Mak Waterfall There’s good news for Canadian employers in the federal sector—those engaged in federal works and undertakings such as airlines, airports, railways, banking, interprovincial transportation, and telecommunications. For many years, employers in Canada’s federal sector understood that they did not have the right to dismiss employees without cause unless such termination was […]
By Thora A. Sigurdson In Sciancamerli v. Comtech (Communication Technologies) Ltd., 2014 BCSC 2140, a specialized salesperson was terminated without cause after 10 months’ service. He sued for wrongful dismissal. At trial, the main issues were the length of notice for a short-term salesperson and his entitlement, if any, to commission payments during the notice […]
by Karen Sargeant and Clayton Jones Last week, we reported on the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision in Bowes v. Goss Power Products Ltd., which found that an employee does not have a duty to mitigate where an employment contract contains a fixed severance entitlement but no express requirement to mitigate. The Court of Appeal […]