"At any time" - Ontario Court of Appeal overturns Baker and Li
Last year, I commented on a growing issue in Ontario where employment contracts permitting the employer discretion to terminate "at any time" were seen as non-compliant with employment standards legislation. I suggested that, at least in the Ontario context, there was a good argument that this was an incorrect read of the statutory construction. Last week, the Ontario Court of Appeal addressed the issue in Baker v. Van Dolder and Li v. Wayfair , overturning the approach adopted by the lower courts: The language of "at any time" doesn't appear "to render legally effective a termination that is expressly prohibited by the ESA ." However, I have some comments on the analysis adopted by the ONCA here. Li's contract went a step beyond "at any time", into "at any time and for any reason". In my view, that would be problematic on a principled perspective, as there absolutely are reasons for which an employer is not entitled to ter...