Softer Landings Save Time, Effort and Legal Fees for Employers and Employees

termination process and employee entitlementsMany HR professionals say the toughest part of their job is employee terminations. No surprise there, and it’s usually no day at the beach for the exiting employee either. Mapping out the termination process and employee entitlements in advance will reduce the sting of terminations for both sides. 

It Pays to be Nitpicky!

Another reason to have all ducks in a row: courts have awarded additional damages for aspects of the manner of dismissal that may seem a little nitpicky. A few examples: an employer’s failure to provide a written termination letter, late statutory payments, miscalculations in statutory amounts, and inaccurate ROEs. Courts have also called employers out for failing to explain an employee’s rights in a termination letter. All the more reason for employers to tighten up their termination process and termination letter template.

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Waksdale: Now the Final Word on Termination Provisions – Leave to Appeal Waksdale Decision to the Supreme Court of Canada is Denied

Leave to Appeal Waksdale Decision

Image by Edar from Pixabay

The highest Canadian court has just confirmed that an invalid “just cause” termination section in an employment contract will also knock out the entire termination section, including the “without cause” section. 

In our earlier blog discussing employment termination packages –Termination Entitlements: Benefits, Bonuses, and Commissions – we promised to keep you updated on 2020’s employment law decision of the year, Waksdale v. Swegon North America Inc. So here we go. 

Leave to Appeal Denied

To recap, Waksdale was a decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal that immediately put termination provisions in jeopardy. In the case, the Court of Appeal found that the employer, Swegon North America, could not rely on their properly drafted “without cause” termination provision, in a without cause termination of their employee, Benjamin Waksdale.

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Employers Get Out Your Contracts: An Important Ruling on Termination Provisions

enforceability of specific termination provisions

Image by Edar from Pixabay

This Ontario Court of Appeal decision has been the talk of the town on all the Ontario employment law blogs and while we don’t like to be followers, we also wanted to make sure our readers did not miss this important decision. In Waksdale v. Swegon North America Inc. the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled on the enforceability of specific termination provisions in an employment contract, finding the “without cause” termination provision enforceable because of a flaw in the “with cause” provision. 

Courts frequently come up with new ways of invalidating employer drafted termination provisions that would restrict an employee’s entitlement to notice. The enforceability of termination provisions is what lots of employment cases are about. A properly drafted termination provision in an employment contract can significantly limit an employee’s entitlement to notice of termination. For example, a long service employee terminated “without cause” could be entitled to as little as 8 weeks or as much as 2 years of notice depending on the contract. 

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