Workplace Assault Not Just Cause for Termination

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Is assaulting a co-worker just cause for termination of employment?

In the 2012 case of Shakur v. Mitchell Plastics, 2012 ONSC 1008 Justice David Broad of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found that an employer did not have "just cause" to terminate an employee who slapped a co-worker.

Is Two Weeks Too Little?

Can an Ontario employment contract legally provide that an employer may terminate an employee’s employment without cause provided that the employer provides two weeks pay in lieu of notice.

The legal question is: could the employer enforce this provision to only provide the employee with two weeks pay in lieu of notice?

The short answer is probably not, but like most everything in law, the real answer is, “it depends.”

Blue Pencils Cannot be Used to Remove Date from Non-Competition Agreement

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“Blue-pencil severance” is an extraordinary remedy, by which a court will strike out certain words of a contract in order to give effect to the true meaning (if not the actual wording) of a contract. The concept is most familiar to employment lawyers from the Supreme Court’s 2009 decision in KRG Insurance Brokers (Western) Inc. v. Shafron, 2009 SCC 6.

In Veolia ES Industrial Services Inc. v. Brulé, 2012 ONCA 173, the Court of Appeal for Ontario ruled that it was not appropriate to employ blue-pencil severance to remove the start date from a non-competition contract.

Man or Muppet? Employee or Contractor?

In the recent Muppet movie human protagonist Gary finds himself asking “Am I Man or am I Muppet?”  Unfortunately many employees find themselves asking a similar question when their services are no longer required by their employers.

Although many workers may think themselves “independent contractors” either because they wish to be or, more commonly, because their employers told them they were at the time of hire, such may not necessarily be the case.

Taking the Managing out of a Problematic Manager

The recent Ontario Court of Appeal case of Chandran v. National Bank, 2012 ONCA 205, highlights some of the considerations an employer must make when deciding to change the fundamental aspects of an employee's job – even when those changes are demonstrably required.  The failure to properly follow the correct procedures can result in an employee's successful claim for constructive dismissal.

Frustration of Contract need not be Frustrating

Many employees who become chronically ill, are injured in a workplace accident, or get hurt in some other type of accident and are unable to return to work for medical reasons often believe that they have no option but to quit their job. By the same token, it is not uncommon for employers to take the position with their employees that the employee must either return to work or quit.

However, as this post will demonstrate the forced options of “return to work or quit” are, in fact, a false dichotomy. Employees have other options and employers have further responsibilities.