Mr. Giza worked for 5 years as a school bus driver until, after a rough patch with his employer (not alleged to be just cause) the employer served 5 weeks’ working notice in purported compliance with the BC Employment Standards Act. Mr. Giza decided to cease work on the same day, instead of working through the 5 week notice period, and commenced an action for wrongful dismissal damages.
TevlinGleadle argued the Certification Application in the BCSC in November, 2011. The Judge reserved his judgement for consideration, due to the large amount of material presented to him on the application. We continue to await word from the Supreme Court on when the judgment will be handed down.
Mr. Justice Goepel of the BC Supreme Court handed down comprehensive reasons for judgment on January 27, 2012 dismissing a just cause defence by the BC Liquor Distribution Branch in a wrongful dismissal damage claim by a senior manager.
Dan Gleadle has written an article for the Canadian Human Rights Reporter issue published on Januayr 16, 2012, entitled “So What Exactly Constitutes Just Cause?”
Once an employment relationship comes into existence, employers are required to give reasonable notice to bring the contract of service to an end. The exception is if just cause exists — when the employer is permitted to dismiss without notice.
There is a recent proposal to amend the Worker’s Compensation regime of this province to include workplace bullying as grounds for compensation.
The Honourable Madam Justice Ballance has notified counsel that her decision on the issue of the claims by certain persons who failed to opt in to the class action will not be handed down for about six weeks. By our calculation, that should be by approximately mid-February. Our judges are extremely busy on many cases, … Continued
In this recent BC employment law case, the plaintiff recovered wrongful dismissal damages after long service. Just cause was not alleged at trial, but had been considered based on the plaintiff’s sending offensive jokes of a sexual nature by email.
On August 2, 2011, the British Columbia Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed an appeal by an employer to have an employee’s pension benefits received during an appropriate notice period offset against wrongful dismissal damages for the same period.
In Systad v. Raymont Logistics Inc, a 65 year old Container Lift Operator, with no supervisory duties was awarded 18 months notice after 18 years service, in spite of the employer’s argument that 8 weeks’ notice was enough given his (allegedly) non-responsible job duties. The full text of the reasons for judgement are available here. … Continued
I was fortunate to be referred to Tevlin Gleadle Curtis upon the surprising termination of my employment. During a very stressful time, their systematic and balanced approach provided the clarity and options essential to move a personally demanding process forward. Their effort and quick reaction times resulted in a court appearance four months post dismissal and a favourable judgement one an half months later.