Showing posts with label Apology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Apology. Show all posts

Friday 15 October 2021

“It's Too Late to Apologize” Court of Appeal Finds Refusal to Apologize For Inappropriate Conduct Just Cause for Termination of Employment

If you can get thorough this post without hearing Ryan Tedder’s voice singing “It's too late to apologize,” well you’re stronger than I am. “I said it's too late to apologize, it's too late.” (For those who don’t get the lyrical reference, or those who just want to hear the song, here’s the link: Timbaland - Apologize ft. OneRepublic.)

In November of 2020, I wrote a post titled “Refusing to Apologize for Inappropriate Comments Not Cause for Dismissal”. In that post I reviewed the Ontario Superior Court of Justice’s decision in Hucsko v. A.O. Smith Enterprises, 2020 ONSC 1346 (CanLII), in which Justice G.E. Taylor held that an employer was not justified in summarily ending the employment relationship because the employee refused to apologize for inappropriate comments and it could not use the previous findings concerning inappropriate comments to later justify the termination.

The employer appealed.

For reasons reported as Hucsko v. A.O. Smith Enterprises Limited, 2021 ONCA 728, the Court of Appeal found that there was cause to terminate the employee’s employment.

Too late.