How does a court get around the pesky “any time,” “any reason” issue and find that a contractual termination provision containing such words is legally determinative of an employee’s entitlement? Simple. By failing to engage on the point.
In Li v. Wayfair Canada ULC., 2025 ONSC 2959, the Honourable Justice Grant Dow of the Ontario Superior Court sitting at Toronto bucked the current trend and found the following termination clause to be legally acceptable, “After your probationary period concludes, in the absence of Cause, the Company may terminate your employment at any time and for any reason by providing you with only the minimum statutory amount of written notice required by the ESA or by paying you the minimal amount of statutory termination pay in lieu of notice required by the ESA, or a combination of both, as well as paying statutory severance pay required by the ESA, providing benefits continuance for the requisite minimum statutory period under the ESA and all other outstanding entitlements, if any, owing under the ESA.”
Let’s get into it.
