Wrongful Quitting: Can Your Employee Suddenly Walk Out The Door?

Employers are familiar with the concept that employees must be given notice that their employment will be terminated. However, a recent decision from the British Columbia Court of Appeal looks at the issue from a different perspective: what notice must employees give when leaving their employers?

In Consbec Inc. v Walker, 2016 BCCA 114, a family-owned company pursued a former employee (and family member) for various losses suffered by the company when the employee left the family business without notice.

The Trial Decision

Mr. Walker was an employee of Consbec for five years prior to his resignation. His role with Consbec involved soliciting blasting and drilling contracts and he was the only employee running Consbec's Western Division office. When Mr. Walker suddenly resigned without notice, Consbec had to temporarily assign one of its employees from Sudbury to Kamloops until Consbec was able to permanently relocate another one of its employees from Sudbury.

Though most of Consbec's claims against Mr. Walker were dismissed, the trial judge did side with the employer on the issue of wrongful resignation. The trial judge found that Mr. Walker was obligated to give reasonable notice of his resignation, even though there was no written employment agreement requiring a specific period of notice. Mr. Walker had given no prior notice that he planned to leave and therefore the company was entitled to damages. While the trial judge did not calculate how much notice Mr. Walker should have given, the trial judge did award the company damages of over $56,000 for the costs and expenses it incurred in temporarily and permanently relocating employees to cover Mr. Walker's position.

For more on the trial decision see: http://www.mcmillan.ca/Its-a-Two-Way-Street-Employees-are-Required-to-Give-Notice-of-Resignation

The Appeal Decision

Various appeals and cross-appeals were filed by the parties. On the issue of wrongful resignation, the Court of Appeal confirmed that an employee must give reasonable notice before leaving. To do otherwise is "wrongful quitting".

The Court of Appeal observed that the main purpose of the notice requirement is to give the employer a reasonable time to adjust to the employee's departure. The appropriate notice period will depend on the employee's duties and responsibilities, salary, length of service, and the time it would reasonably take the employer to have others handle the employee's work or to hire a replacement.

On the...