News & Analysis as of

Canada Hiring & Firing Employment Litigation

Stikeman Elliott LLP

Status Update: Ontario Court Upholds RSU Forfeiture Provision, Despite Employment Agreement Violating the ESA

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In the recent Wigdor v Facebook Canada Ltd. and Meta Platforms, Inc., 2025 ONSC 4051 decision (the “Decision”), which has not yet been reported, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice upheld the enforceability of restricted...more

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

British Columbia and Ontario: Two Diverging Approaches to Interpreting Termination Provisions

Overview - Employers increasingly face challenges regarding whether termination provisions in their employment agreements will be determined to be enforceable if challenged in court. As we continue to see increasing court...more

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

Droit de l’emploi au Canada : Changements récents et à venir

Au cours de la dernière année, des changements importants ont été apportés à la législation en matière d’emploi un peu partout au Canada. Des mises à jour législatives majeures ont notamment été effectuées en Ontario, en...more

Mintz - Employment Viewpoints

Key Employment Law Considerations for Canadian Businesses Impacted by Tariffs

As of this writing, the Trump administration has implemented a 25% tariff on most Canadian goods imported into the United States. Canadian governments at all levels are preparing relief programs for local businesses, but...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Court Finds Employer Repudiated Employment Agreement When it Failed to Pay Employee’s Contractual Severance

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In Timmins v. Artisan Cells, 2025 CanLII 2387, Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice found, in an undefended claim, that the employers “by their correspondence and actions” repudiated the employee’s employment agreement when...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Appeal Court Dismisses Employer’s Appeal of $1.8 Million Damage Award to Retired VP

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In Boyer v. Callidus Capital Corporation, 2025 ONCA 79, the Court of Appeal for Ontario (OCA) dismissed the employer’s appeal of the motion judge’s order in Boyer v. Callidus, 2024 ONSC 20, discussed in detail here. The...more

Mintz - Employment Viewpoints

Sooner the Better: Employers in Canada Should Really Review Their Termination of Employment Clauses

A recent Ontario Court of Appeal (“ONCA”) decision signals a pressing need for Canadian employers to review and consider updating their contractual termination of employment provisions. Otherwise, employers are at risk of...more

Stikeman Elliott LLP

Did the Punishment Fit the Claim? Employer Hit With $25,000 in Punitive Damages for Making Statutory Entitlements Subject to a...

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In its recent decision, Thompson v Revolution Resource Recovery Inc.2025 BCSC 8 (“Thompson”), the Supreme Court of British Columbia (the “Court”) made a $25,000 punitive damages award against an employer for attempting to...more

Stikeman Elliott LLP

Hungry for Consideration in Employment Agreements: Are Peppercorns Off the Menu for Employers?

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In the recent decision of Sui v HungryPanda Tech Ltd., 2024 BCSC 1856 (“HungryPanda”), the Supreme Court of British Columbia invalidated a termination provision in an employment agreement by finding the employer had failed to...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Ontario Court Reaffirms Importance of Clear and Compliant Language in Employment Agreements

In December 2024, the Court of Appeal for Ontario released its highly anticipated decision in Dufault v. Ignace (Township). The three-judge panel determined that the “for cause” termination clause contained in the employee’s...more

Bennett Jones LLP

New Regulations Regarding the Hiring Process: Key Dates and Information for Ontario Employers

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Ontario has recently published regulations offering employers further details on the new amendments to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) related to the hiring process....more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Court Finds Termination Provisions Unenforceable and Awards Employee Punitive Damages

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Wilds v. 1959612 Ontario Inc., 2024 ONSC 3452, involves a wrongful dismissal action in which the employee brought a motion for summary judgment. The court found the termination provisions in her employment agreement were...more

Bennett Jones LLP

Working for Workers Six Act, 2024: More Changes on the Horizon for Ontario’s Employment-Related Legislation

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On November 27, 2024, the Ontario government introduced Bill 229, Working for Workers Six Act, 2024 (Bill 229). This announcement comes just one-month after Ontario’s Working for Workers Five Act, 2024 (Bill 190) received...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Court Upholds Provision Limiting Employee’s Termination Rights to Minimums Under Employment Standards Legislation

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In Bertsch v. Datastealth Inc., 2024 ONSC 5593, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed an employee’s claim for common law reasonable notice of termination on a Rule 21 motion....more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Appellate Court Provides Guidance to Employers on How to Draft Employment Settlement Documents

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The Court of Appeal for Ontario found that settlement documents signed after an employee separated from employment prevented him from suing for the value of vested stock options....more

Stikeman Elliott LLP

A Win for Employers: The Ontario Superior Court of Justice Upholds Termination Provision

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In the recent Bertsch v. Datastealth Inc., 2024 ONSC 5593 decision, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice upheld the enforceability of a "with or without cause" termination provision that limited the employee's entitlement on...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Court Orders Independent Medical Examination of Employee Claiming Indefinite Inability to Mitigate Due to Mental...

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Marshall v. Mercantile Exchange Corporation, 2024 CanLII 71128  (ONSC), is an action for wrongful dismissal where the employee claimed he could not mitigate his damages by seeking alternative employment indefinitely because...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Court Reinforces Waksdale’s Impact on Enforceability of Termination Provisions and Provides Guidance on Proving...

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In De Castro v. Arista Homes Limited, 2024 ONSC 1035, Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice (Court) held the termination provision in an employment contract was unenforceable because it defined “cause” more broadly than does...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Appeal Court Confirms Employment Contract Frustrated by Employee’s Refusal to Comply With COVID-19 Vaccination...

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In Croke v. VuPoint System Ltd., 2024 ONCA 354, the Court of Appeal for Ontario (OCA) upheld the Superior Court of Justice – Ontario (SCJ)’s summary judgment decision that an employee’s refusal to comply with their employer’s...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Appeal Court Finds Aggravated Damages Award Can Be Made Without Medical Evidence of Diagnosable Psychological...

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The Court of Appeal for Ontario (OCA) recently held that an employee may be awarded aggravated damages for an employer’s bad-faith conduct during the employee’s dismissal even in the absence of medical evidence identifying a...more

Littler

British Columbia, Canada Court of Appeal Affirms Enforceability of Termination Clause That Incorporated by Reference Notice and...

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In Egan v. Harbour Air Seaplanes LLP, 2024 BCCA 222, the British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA) upheld a lower court’s decision that a termination clause in an employment agreement was enforceable because it was neither...more

Ius Laboris

Canadian court upholds termination of unvaccinated worker

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The Ontario Court of Appeal recently held that an employee’s failure to meet COVID-19 vaccination requirements imposed by a third party amounted to frustration of the employment contract. As a result, there was no obligation...more

Littler

British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal Finds Employer Discriminated Against Transgender Employee Based on Their Gender Identity...

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In Nelson v. Goodberry Restaurant Group Ltd. dba Buono Osteria and others, 2021 BCHRT 137, the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal found that a restaurant and its managers that refused to use a server’s pronouns, among...more

Littler

British Columbia, Canada Appeal Court Rejects Employer’s Frustration Defence in Circumstances Connected to COVID-19

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In Aldergrove Duty Free Shop Ltd. v. MacCallum, 2024 BCCA 28, the Court of Appeal for British Columbia (BCCA) dismissed an employer’s appeal when it agreed with the lower court that the employer could not use the frustration...more

Littler

Ontario, Canada Court Finds Termination Clauses in Fixed-Term Employment Agreement Unenforceable

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In Dufault v. The Corporation of the Township of Ignace, 2024 ONSC 1029, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice held that the termination provisions of a fixed-term employment contract were illegal and unenforceable because...more

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