A dismissal is wrongful if an employee has been terminated without adequate notice or fair payment in lieu of that notice. It is implied that a dismissed employee is entitled to “reasonable notice” of their eventual last day of work or the compensation they would have been entitled to over that period.

The focus of the wrongful dismissal case is the determination of the “reasonable notice” period. Our Court of Appeal has made clear that “determining the period of reasonable notice is an art not a science”. Courts consider a number of factors including, but not limited to, age, salary, tenure, educational background, recruitment to the job, specialty and whether similar positions are available in the marketplace at the time of termination. Payment in lieu of reasonable notice is what we commonly refer to as severance.

Be advised, reasonable notice is not always due to employees. An employer does not need to provide reasonable notice if they have clearly and legally limited notice. Moreover, employers do not need to provide any severance if they have “just cause” for dismissing an employee. For an employer to have just cause the employee must have committed a terrible act that strikes at the core of the employment relationship. Stated differently, to deprive a terminated employee of any severance they must have engaged in something as egregious as theft, serious dishonesty or harassment.

Rest assured, just cause is a very difficult for an employer to prove and employment contracts of even the largest and most sophisticated employers have been found inadequate in their attempts to limit notice.

Consider consulting the lawyers at Whitten and Lublin for an expert assessment of your wrongful dismissal case and severance entitlement.

Author: Paul Macchione, Whitten & Lublin