A recent BC Supreme Court case highlights how employees have an obligation to mitigate their damages by searching for comparable employment after termination. The case also confirms that 24-months is the upper limit of common law reasonable notice in BC. Facts In Okano v. Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, 2022 BCSC 881, the plaintiff, Ms. Okano, was ...
A recent BC Supreme Court decision demonstrates that an employment contract does not necessarily need to be signed by the employee in order to be enforceable as long as there is clear evidence that the employee agreed to the terms in the contract. Facts In Asgari Sereshk v. Peter Kiewit Sons ULC, 2021 BCSC 2570, ...
A recent decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal provides clarification on when the common employer doctrine will make a corporation liable for amounts owing to an individual employed by a related corporation. The plaintiff, Mr. Reilly served as CEO for both ClearMRI Solutions Ltd. (“ClearMRI Canada”) and ClearMRI Solutions, Inc. (“ClearMRI US”). Mr. Reilly’s ...
A recent decision from the Manitoba Court of Appeal confirms that a just cause dismissal may be defensible in certain cases even if the employer has not completed a thorough investigation or given the employee an opportunity to respond to allegations of misconduct. In McCallum v. Saputo, 2021 MBCA 62, Mr. McCallum was an employee of ...
Two recent preliminary screening decisions from the BC Human Rights Tribunal, dismissing complaints brought in relation to BC’s vaccination card program, provide some insight into how tribunals may deal with complaints regarding vaccine mandates during the pandemic. Complaint against Dr. Bonnie Henry One complaint was brought against provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry. The complainant ...
A recent BC Supreme Court decision in Moore v. Instow Enterprises Ltd. provides helpful guidance regarding the extent to which a dismissed employee must go to mitigate their losses by searching for comparable employment. Facts The plaintiff in this case was a 53 year old employee who had worked at Kal Tire as a commercial ...
A recent Supreme Court of Canada decision, C.M. Callow Inc. v. Zollinger 2020 SCC 45, found that it was a breach of the contractual duty of honest performance to deliberately remain silent and not correct another party’s misapprehension regarding a state of affairs it knew was caused by its own misleading conduct. Facts In 2012, ...
Facts The plaintiff in Wilson v. Pomerleau Inc., 2021 BCSC 388 was employed by the defendant construction company as chief estimator for the BC region. In his role as chief estimator, the plaintiff supervised a team of 2-6 individuals. He had a base salary of approx. $174,000 and participated in an annual profit sharing program ...
In a recent decision, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found that a termination provision was unenforceable because it would violate Ontario’s Employment Standards Act if the employee’s role changed or the employer grew in size. Facts Chris Rutledge was a construction worker with Canaan Construction. Ontario’s employment standards legislation provides that “construction employees” are ...
