Asserting Cause Where No Reasonable Basis Costs Employer $50,000 In Punitive Damages:

In Morison v Ergo-Industrial Seating Systems Inc. ( 2016 ONSC 6725) Justice Rogers held that reasonable notice for a 58 year old Regional Sales Manager with 8 years service making $211,000 annually was 12 months.

But the Judge did not stop there. The judge was very concerned about the defendants' conduct and considered that in analyzing both the issue of aggravated damages and punitive damages.

This is what the Court said about aggravated damages :

40. It is clear that an employer can allege just cause as a ground for dismissal and that abandoning cause at any stage, in the course of the action, does not necessarily mean that such conduct should attract aggravated damages. Provided the employer had a reasonable basis on which it believed it could dismiss an employee for cause, a finding of bad faith will not automatically follow: see Mulvihill v. Ottawa (City), 2008 ONCA 201, 90 O.R. (3d) 285, at paras. 49, 55 .

    41 However, in this case, the evidence is rather clear that the plaintiff was simply not a good fit with his new immediate superior (Exhibit 1, tab 19 being a convincing example). It is equally clear that this superior knew someone she respected who expressed interest in Mr. Morison's position. The defendant was interested in trying someone new who had what the defendant perceived was a more positive disposition towards the healthcare sector. The defendant was clearly entitled to these beliefs and to hire someone else. However, none of this constituted reasonable belief in just cause.

42. Considering all the evidence on this issue, I conclude that alleging cause was an integral part of the defendant's negotiation strategy. The defendant was counselled in September 2012 that it would not be able to establish cause. The defendant alluded to a possibility of alleging cause in its dismissal letter. The defendant then alleged cause in its defence and adopted a rather aggressive position while providing no convincing evidence at trial that could support its alleged reasonable belief in cause or that it was reasonably justified in initially adopting a position of just cause.

43. This is exactly the kind of conduct mentioned in Honda v. Keays as an example of conduct in dismissal that could result in aggravated damages. I find that the defendant did not act fairly or in good faith in the manner of dismissal of Mr. Morison as the defendant was not candid, reasonably honest, nor forthright with Mr. Morison. The defendant, by its allegations made...