Employers 'Repudiating' Employment Contracts
There's a highly dubious line of case law coming out of Ontario dealing with termination language in employment contracts. Ontario lawyers who read that line will initially wonder "which one?" There are a lot of evolving doctrines in Ontario right now that make it difficult to enforce termination language. The reality is that I agree with most of those, on their principles. But not this one: Courts are finding, increasingly, that employers who do not comply with their termination obligations under written contracts of employment are not able to later rely on the termination clause. I understand the motivation to take this approach, but it's completely irreconcilable with first principles of employment law. Background A brief primer: By default, every employment contract is presumed to contain an implied term that neither side will terminate it without 'reasonable notice' to the other. This concept is most often applied when employees are dismissed without caus...