British Columbia employees owes their employer a duty of good faith and loyalty. This duty exists regardless of the sort of job involved, and is an implied term that the law places into employment agreements. Several decisions have found that if an employee commences a legal action against his or her employer while still employed, the employee has breached the duty of good faith and loyalty, and the employer would then be able to terminate the employment lawfully without notice. The employee would be seen as having given “just cause” for termination by his or her act of commencing legal proceedings.
However, there are limited circumstances where an employee could start a claim and not be seen as having breached a duty of good faith and loyalty. Examples might (depending on the circumstances) be where the employee’s claim is for amounts due to the employee for wages, commissions or bonus. The action might be framed as a claim not for damages but for “directions” where the court is asked to interpret the parties respective legal rights and obligations. A Human Rights complaint can also often be advanced without giving rise to cause for dismissal.
The last word on this topic – think very carefully about suing your employer while you are still working, and get qualified legal advice before you act.