Repudiation by Allegation: The Risk of Falsely Alleging Cause

A knowingly false allegation of “cause” can void an otherwise valid termination provision.

In Dixon v British Columbia Transit, [1995] BCJ No 1892 (BC SC), the British Columbia Supreme Court held that an employer could not rely on its contractual termination provision to limit its severance obligation because the contract did not provide for a measure of liquidated damages in the event of wrongful dismissal; the contract only provided for compensation in lieu of notice if dismissal was pursuant to the employer's lawful right to dismiss in the absence of cause.

Employers Cannot Rescind Notices of Termination

Can an employer withdraw a termination of employment after it has been delivered to its employee?

In a series of cases from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, one of which I argued, judges have consistently held that an employer cannot.

Employers May Deduct Statutory Payments from Wrongful Dismissal Damages

When calculating damages for failing to provide reasonable notice of termination, can an employer deduct statutory termination pay and severance already paid to the employee?

The 1996 decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario in Stevens v. The Globe and Mail, 1996 CanLII 10215 (ON CA), affirmed that the employer is entitled to make such deductions.

Calculation of Damages for Lost Commissions

How is commission income addressed when calculating severance under Ontario employment law?

In Shelp v. GoSecure Inc., 2025 ONSC 49, the Honourable Justice Charles T. Hackland of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice sitting in Ottawa affirmed that “it is common practice in the case law for courts to estimate a terminated employee’s commission income based on averaging pre-termination earnings.”

Validity of Arbitration Clauses in Employment Contracts Within Arbitrator’s Jurisdiction: ONCA

Can an employment contract in Ontario legally prohibit someone from suing for wrongful dismissal? Can your employer require you to “arbitrate” your case rather than allowing you to use the public court system?

In Irwin v. Protiviti, 2022 ONCA 533, Ontario’s top court held that arbitration clauses in employment agreements are not automatically “illegal” and that questions about any particular arbitration provision are to presumptively be resolved by an arbitrator, not the courts.

I asked AI to Generate Pictures of Lawyers as Animals

I asked DALL-E, ChatGPT’s image generator, to depict various lawyers as animals and then to explain what caused it to choose the animal selected. Here are the results.

Employment Lawyers as the Fox

Of course I had to start with employment lawyers. DALL-E depicts employment lawyers as foxes. Here its explanation:

Fast-Tracking Wrongful Dismissal Claims: How Employers Can Benefit from Rule 21 Motions

How long will it take and how much will it cost before a judge can dismiss this wrongful dismissal case against me? That is a frequent question of employers who find themselves on the receiving end of a wrongful dismissal action in which the primary legal question is whether the employer’s employment contract legally establishes the employee’s severance entitlement.

In Bertsch v. DatastealthInc., 2024 ONSC 5593, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice demonstrated that when the parties make use of the tools the system affords them, the system can work.

As a summary of the chronology of events, the plaintiff’s employment was terminated on June 7, 2024. He filed his statement of claim on July 18, 2024. The employer’s motion to dismiss was heard on October 7, 2024, and the court released its decision on October 8, 2024.

That is how employment law cases should run.