Can You Terminate Someone for Poor Soft Skills?
Soft skills like communication, teamwork, emotional intelligence, and adaptability are often the glue that holds teams together. But what happens when an employee lacks these crucial interpersonal traits? Can you terminate someone for poor soft skills?
In Canada, an employer can terminate an employee for nearly any reason on a “without cause” basis. If the employer provides proper notice, and does not terminate for reasons that are illegal, like discrimination or retaliation, then an employer can terminate for reasons such as the lack of soft skills.
Could a termination for poor soft skills be covering up discrimination?
Taking this into account, it can be difficult to ascertain if the stated reason for termination without cause is legitimate, or if it is covering up a more sinister reason. This uncertainty lay at the heart of a recent case from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal Zang v. 1783057 Alberta Ltd., 2025 CHRT 10, in which an employee alleged that her termination, based on lacking certain soft skills, was in fact discriminatory.
Part of the reason was that the employer did not communicate any reason for the employee’s termination to her, a gap in knowledge that led her to conclude that she was the victim of discrimination.
In cases of discrimination, the findings are made based on facts, so credibility and evidence are key factors. Courts and tribunals understand that employers are not going to openly admit to discriminating against an employee. For this reason, the courts are permitted to draw inferences of discrimination based on minimal evidence. It is then up to the employer to prove a satisfactory explanation that rebuts the presumption of discrimination.
In this case, the Tribunal scrutinized the employer’s explanation that the employee was terminated due to a lack of soft skills such as communication and interpersonal relationships. It would not have been enough to merely prove that the employee did in fact lack these skills. The Tribunal also examined the employee’s job description to see if such skills were listed as being part of the requirements, and explored what feedback had been previously given to the employee regarding these skills.
Ultimately, the employer was successful in proving that it had in fact terminated the employee for a lack of these skills, and not for discriminatory reasons. It was forced to rely on a significant amount of evidence to do so. It is possible that simply communicating the reason for the employee’s termination at the outset could have saved the employer the trouble though of course, the employee may not have believed the reason either.
How can Whitten and Lublin help?
Discrimination is often difficult to spot, and even harder to prove. For this reason, employees must be ready to respond carefully and strategically if they believe that they are being discriminated against. Similarly, employers must be careful to document key reasons for any decisions that disadvantage employees, lest the gap in facts later lead to an inference of discriminatory conduct. If you are an employee or employer looking to navigate a situation where there may be allegations of discrimination, Whitten and Lublin is here to assist you. Contact us online or by phone at (416) 640-2667.
Author – Aaron Zaltzman