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Tag : employment law

Direction from the Ontario Court of Appeal

Mar 21, 2022
Posted by: Melynda Layton

The Ontario Court of Appeal was busy the last two months providing important direction to the employment bar about the enforceability of non-competition agreements in the staffing environment (see  S. I. Systems Partnership v. Geng https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2020/2020onsc8086/2020onsc8086.html) and insight on notice and break of service (see Currie v. Nylene Canada Inc., 2021 ONSC 1922 (CanLII), <https://canlii.ca/t/jdqzq ).  Both Trial Decisions were upheld..  

Mitigation Damages: Not every dollar earned reduces damages

Jun 26, 2017

Esther Brake may be the hardest working person in Ottawa.  She was sixty-two years old and Managed a Kanata McDonald’s while simultaneously holding down a part-time position as cashier at Sobey’s.  Ms. Brake was constructively dismissed when her Employer demanded she accept a demotion to First Assistant or leave.  After refusing the demoted position because it would be embarrassing and humiliating her  employment was terminated.

Undefined Time Limits are Fatal to Restrictive Covenant

Oct 15, 2013
Despite their frequent use restrictive covenants are difficult to enforce. The Canadian economy benefits from open competition free from encumbrances. Recently, the Court of Appeal demonstrated its distaste for these types of clauses by refusing to enforce overly broad restrictive covenants indicating they were unreasonable (see Martin v. ConCreate USL Limited Partnership, 2013 ONCA 72).

Contracting out of Wrongful Dismissal Damages

Oct 1, 2013
The Employment Standards Act sets out an employees’ minimum entitlement to notice and severance pay on termination of employment. Courts have long held that the Employment Standards Act, 2000 are minimum entitlements only. According to the Courts, an employer is obliged to pay damages to the dismissed employee during the time it will take to replace the lost employment.
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