Federally regulated employers cannot terminate employees unless they can prove just cause

Carole McAfee Wallace wrote Employer Alert July 2016 – “Federally regulated employers cannot terminate employees unless they can prove just cause”

The Supreme Court of Canada recently released its long awaited decision in Wilson v. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, and settled the case law interpreting the unjust dismissal provisions in the Canada Labour Code. The court held that federally regulated employers cannot avoid a complaint of unjust dismissal simply by providing an employee with reasonable notice and severance. An employer can only terminate an employee for just cause, except in the following limited circumstances:

1. the termination occurs before the employee has completed 12 continuous months of employment;
2. the termination is due to lack of work;
3. the termination is the result of the discontinuance of a function; or
4. the terminated employee is a manager.

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