This wrongful dismissal proceeding, which has become a leading case in Canada on a number of important employment law issues, began as a jury trial in BC Supreme Court and found its way to the Supreme Court of Canada.We successfully represented the plaintiff, a senior BC Tel executive. The jury awarded substantial damages, but on appeal to the BCCA, our client was disentitled to damages. The Court referred to possible finding that the plaintiff had not fully disclosed advice received from his doctors, about his medical condition. The Court of Appeal found that this non-disclosure by the plaintiff may have been “dishonesty” and therefore justified summary dismissal.
We brought the wrongful dismissal case before the Supreme Court of Canada the court overturned the Court of Appeal decision. In it’s judgement, the SCC made this important statement:
“… Given this recognition of the integral nature of work to the lives and identities of individuals in our society, care must be taken in fashioning rules and principles of law which would enable the employment relationship to be terminated without notice. The importance of this is underscored by the power imbalance that this Court has recognized as ingrained in most facets of the employment relationship.”