Six Months For Six Months: Is One Month's Notice Per One Month Of Employment Reasonable?

The past few years have seen a wave of Canadian court awards involving significant reasonable notice periods for short service employees, and the recent B.C. case of Greenlees v. Starline Windows Ltd, 2018 BCSC 1457 is a prime example.

In Greenlees, the employee sued his former employer Starline Windows Ltd. ("Starline") for wrongful dismissal. At the trial, there was no issue of just cause and the employer did not argue that the employee, Mr. Greenlees, had failed to mitigate. The only live issue at trial was thus Mr. Greenlees' reasonable notice entitlement. As an aside, the case proceeded by way of summary trial, meaning that all evidence was adduced by way of affidavit with no oral testimony. This is a more expedient and cost-effective litigation process for cases which do not involve disputed facts, e.g. straightforward wrongful dismissal claims.

Mr. Greenlees was 43 years old at the time of his employment with Starline and had a history of working in sales throughout the Lower Mainland. Starline was an active member of the construction industry and hired Mr. Greenlees as a sales professional. There was a written agreement governing the employment relationship, but it did not contain any language limiting Mr. Greenlees' entitlements upon termination of employment.

Mr. Greenlees was employed by Starline in this role from March 2017 until September 2017, a period of six months. The employment relationship quickly soured due to different expectations around the work and Mr. Greenlees' remuneration. As such, Mr. Greenlees was dismissed on a "without cause" basis. On termination, Starline paid Mr. Greenlees an amount equivalent to one week's income in lieu of notice of termination, and an amount in lieu of anticipated commissions. Starline did not provide a letter of reference to aid Mr. Greenlees in finding alternative employment, and this ended up proving costly at trial.

Seven months after his dismissal, Mr. Greenlees found a new position with a building products company with a salary of $70,000, plus commission. As noted above, his efforts to find other employment were not challenged at trial.

At trial, the judge had to consider what Mr. Greenlees' reasonable notice period should be. Interestingly, the parties agreed that for employees in Mr. Greenlees' situation, i.e. "short term employees in their 30s or 40s, whose function is significant for their employer but not one of senior management", a notice period of 2 to 3 months is the...