Calgary Employment Law Blog
Evolution Legal News and Articles
Disability and Frustration of Employment: Alberta Court Dismisses Wrongful Dismissal Claim
A recent Alberta decision provides useful guidance on when an employee’s disability may frustrate an employment contract and bring the relationship to an end without wrongful dismissal damages. In Lai-Terke v EFW Radiology, 2026 ABCJ 114, the employee had worked as a...
A Contextual Approach to Reasonable Notice and Mitigation in Alberta: Realistic Prospects of Replacing the Lost Employment Matter
In Dufour v Ricky’s Family Restaurants Ltd, 2026 ABCJ 105, the Alberta Court of Justice awarded 11 months of common law reasonable notice to a 65-year-old restaurant server and cashier with approximately 9 years and 8 months of service. The decision is a useful...
“Legal Will Get Your Package Done”: Objective Words of Termination
In O’Donoghue v Fluid Energy Group Ltd, 2026 ABKB 428, the Alberta Court of King’s Bench held that a long-service executive and Chief Operating Officer, had been actually or constructively dismissed without cause and without notice on January 9, 2023 through a series...
Termination was the Result: No Fresh Consideration, Resignation, Abandonment or Just Cause
In Ross v Newly Institute Inc, 2026 ABKB 538, the Alberta Court of King’s Bench held that a senior employee had been terminated without cause, had neither resigned nor abandoned his employment, and was entitled to $300,000 in contractual severance. The decision is...
An Employee in Substance: Court Overlooks Title of Independent Contractor
In White v Al-Man Trucking Inc, 2026 ABCJ 94, the Alberta Court of Justice held that a truck driver who had worked exclusively for the defendant trucking company for more than eight years was an employee at common law—not an independent contractor—and had been...
Are You Entitled to Your Bonus as Part of Damages for Wrongful Dismissal in Alberta? Maybe – Strict Requirements Apply to Exclude
McElgunn v Vermilion Energy Inc, 2026 ABKB 188 is an important Alberta decision confirming that the Supreme Court of Canada's framework in Matthews governs claims for bonuses and long-term incentive awards during the common law reasonable notice period. The Court...
“I Have a Doctor’s Note and I’m Off”: Reciprocal Obligations in Employee Absenteeism
In Kadler v West Fraser Mills Ltd, 2026 ABCJ 28, the Alberta Court of Justice dismissed an employee's wrongful dismissal claim after being terminated for just cause, finding that the employee had failed to adequately justify an extended absence from work and had...
A Reverse Onus: Insufficient Evidence and Employer ‘Tunnel Vision’ is Fatal to Just Cause
In O’Driscoll v Suncor Energy Inc, 2026 ABKB 43, the Alberta Court of King's Bench held that Suncor did not have just cause to dismiss a shift supervisor whom it alleged had been sleeping on the job. The case is a significant reminder that an employer bears the burden...
Ongoing Breaches of Confidentiality and Conflict of Interest Amount to Just Cause in Alberta
In Benham v Suncor Energy Inc, 2026 ABKB 364, the Alberta Court of King’s Bench upheld Suncor’s dismissal for just cause of a professional engineer with more than 40 years of service who was terminated approximately five months before his planned retirement. The Court...
Constructive Dismissal Resulting from Forced Employment Agreement in Alberta
In Yakubow v Edmonton Granite Memorials Ltd, 2026 ABKB 360, the Alberta Court of King’s Bench determined that an employer can constructively dismiss an employee before a new contract is actually imposed, where the employer’s communications make materially worse future...
No Warnings, Progressive Discipline, HR Consultation or Investigation: No Just Cause and Contractual Severance Applies
In Khan v Students’ Union of the University of Regina Inc, 2026 SKKB 94, the Saskatchewan Court of King’s Bench granted summary judgment to the employee, Haris Khan, in a wrongful dismissal action and rejected the employer’s allegation of just cause. The case is...
Job Titles May Change, but Employment Agreements Might Not: A case comment
In LaPlume v AAA Internet Publishing Inc, 2025 BCSC 2139, the British Columbia Supreme Court considered whether an employment agreement signed at the beginning of employment remained enforceable after nearly a decade of promotions, salary increases, and expanded...
Does a Delay in Termination for Just Cause Amount to Condonation of Misconduct? Not Always
In Vaassilakaki v. Vassilaki & Sons Investments Ltd (Last Call Liquor Mart), 2026 BCSC 474 the British Columbia Supreme Court considered whether an employer had condoned serious employee misconduct by waiting several months before terminating the employee for just...
Forward-Looking, Not Backward: Wrongful Dismissal Damages and Bonus Payments
In Warren v Canaccord Genuity Corp, 2026 ONSC 547 the Ontario Superior Court of Justice awarded a former managing director more than $2.5 million in wrongful dismissal damages after finding that his compensation during the notice period should be assessed using a...
A Falsified MBA in Alberta: The “heart of one’s moral compass”
In Tudor v Accurate Screen Ltd, 2026 ABKB 237, the Alberta Court of King’s Bench upheld termination for just cause where the employee intentionally misrepresented his academic qualifications during the hiring process. The wrongful dismissal claim was dismissed, with...
The “Camel’s Back” Theory and Mitigation: A Recent Reminder from the Ontario Court of Appeal
Williamson v Brandt Tractor Inc, 2026 ONCA 272– Case Summary Facts and procedural history The employee, William Williamson, was 56 years old and had worked for Brandt for 18 years as a salesperson covering a large northern Ontario territory. The trial judge recorded a...
The Employer’s Onus: A case comment on the Duty to Mitigate and Adverse Inferences
In Boyle v Salesforce.com, 2025 ONSC 2580, a 49-year-old senior technical employee with 8 years of service sued for wrongful dismissal. The Ontario Superior Court struck down the contractual termination clause and assessed common law reasonable notice at 11 months,...
Looking Beyond the Label of “Independent Contractor”: A case comment
Saskatoon Minor Basketball Association v MacDonald, 2025 SKCA 42 Factual Background Randi MacDonald was engaged by the Saskatoon Minor Basketball Association (SMBA) for over 16 years, eventually serving as its Executive Director. Throughout her tenure, SMBA treated...
Constructive Dismissal, Inducement and Recognition of Prior Service: A case comment
Lachapelle v St. Laurent Automotive Group Inc, 2025 ONSC 1956 Key facts: Employment History: Jesse Lachapelle, a 28-year-old automotive technician, worked for St. Laurent Automotive Group (a car dealership in Ottawa) in two stints over roughly six years. He...
Successive Fixed-term Contracts, Termination Clauses and Fundamental Changes: A Constructive Dismissal case comment
Comeau v Valcom Consulting Ltd, 2025 NBKB 253 Key Facts of the Case Employment relationship: Timothy Comeau was employed by Valcom Consulting Ltd. under a series of back-to-back fixed-term contracts. These contracts had no termination clause, meaning they did...
Forgery, Deception and After-Acquired Cause: A case comment
Sobolewski v Advanced Completions Technology Services Ltd, 2026 ABKB 10 is a recent Alberta Court of King’s Bench decision that illustrates how after-acquired cause can justify a dismissal for cause even when misconduct is discovered post-termination. In this case, a...
Termination Without Cause “At Anytime”— No Contracting Out of Statutory Minimums Allowed
Baker v Van Dolder’s Home Team Inc, 2025 ONSC 952 – A case comment Factual Background Frederick Baker was employed by Van Dolder’s Home Team Inc. and was terminated “without cause” on May 24, 2023. Upon his dismissal, Mr. Baker sued for wrongful dismissal, challenging...
When Short Service Equates to Big Notice
Chan v NYX Capital Corp., 2025 ONSC 4561 – A Case Comment Factual Background: Chan was hired in October 2021 by NYX Capital Corp. (a small real estate investment firm) as Vice-President of Acquisitions and Asset Management and Chief Compliance Officer. He was 47 years...
Failure to Disclose New Employment is Not a Repudiation: A case comment
Cross v Cooling Tower Maintenance Inc, 2025 ONSC 7203 As distinguished from a lump-sum severance amount, salary continuance is a common form of post-termination compensation where an employer continues to pay an employee’s regular salary (and often benefits) for a...
Just Cause for 10 Years of Surreptitious Recordings
In Shalagin v Mercer Celgar Limited Partnership, 2023 BCCA 373, the British Columbia Court of Appeal upheld a finding of just cause for an employee’s dismissal due to surreptitiously recording conversations in the workplace. The decision highlights key employment law...
Hired on the Basis of an Emailed Term Sheet: A Case Comment
Background and Facts Sui v HungryPanda Tech Ltd, 2024 BCSC 1856, is a 2024 decision of the Supreme Court of British Columbia concerning an employment contract dispute. The plaintiff, Xing (Vincent) Sui, negotiated his employment as a general manager for HungryPanda...
Reasonable Notice Damages: Long-Term Incentive Plans, Restricted Stock Options and Bonuses
Matthews v Ocean Nutrition Canada Ltd, 2020 SCC 26 – Case Summary Background and Facts David Matthews was a long-time senior executive at Ocean Nutrition Canada Ltd. (“ONC”), a fish oil company, from 1997 until 2011. In 2007, ONC introduced a Long Term Incentive Plan...
Failure to Accept Offer of Re-Employment a Failure to Mitigate– A Case Summary
In Richardson v New West Freightliner Inc, 2025 ABCJ 141, the Court concluded that it was not objectively unreasonable for the employee to return to work: Because the plaintiff refused the reasonable re-employment offer, he failed to mitigate his damages. As a result,...
Wrongful Dismissal in Alberta: An Overview
Wrongful dismissal arises when an employee is fired without proper notice or compensation. In Alberta, wrongful dismissal refers to the improper termination of a non-unionized employee in breach of the law or contract. In plain terms, a dismissal is “wrongful” when an...
Constructive Dismissal Explained
The term “constructive dismissal” commonly refers to a situation where an employee resigns, or is thinking of resigning, after significant changes were unilaterally made to essential terms of their employment agreement; without their valid consent. The sudden or...
4 Job Applications out of 133 Comparable Postings: An Employee’s Failure to Mitigate
Hill v Canyon Dental Centre Ltd, 2025 ABCJ 163 -- A Case Comment An employer will almost always argue that an employee has failed to mitigate their losses after a without cause termination. This case serves as a reminder that reductions in severance are possible if an...
Alberta Termination Clauses and Limiting the Common Law Right to Reasonable Notice
Background Christopher Plotnikoff was a long-term employee of Associated Engineering Alberta Ltd., working for nearly ten years as a Civil Engineering technologist. In April 2022, his employment was terminated without cause when he was 33 years old. Upon termination,...
Supervisors, Safety-Sensitive Roles, Catastrophic “Near Misses” and Just Cause: A Case Comment
Factual Background In the recent case of Driol v NOV Canada ULC, 2025 ABCJ 214, Driol (the plaintiff) was an assembly supervisor at NOV Canada, an industrial equipment manufacturer. The case arose from a serious safety incident: a 40,000-pound van body that had been...
No Injunction Granted against Departing Fiduciary Despite 90% Customer Exodus
Background of Garbage King Inc v Voth, 2025 ABKB 661: Parties: Garbage King Inc. sought an injunction against a former operations manager, Mr. Voth, and his new employer (VP Disposal). Departure and Aftermath: Voth resigned from Garbage King and joined a competitor....
No Common Law Severance for Alberta Public Sector Employees Bringing Constructive Dismissal Claims
Background and Issue In Twilley v Alberta, 2025 ABKB 587, Leslie Twilley was a non-unionized Alberta public sector employee. After leaving her position, she filed a civil claim alleging constructive dismissal and sought a declaration that section 25.01 of the Public...
A Cautionary Tale for Employees: The serious risk of suing your employer while receiving working notice
In Adrain v Agricom International Inc, 2025 BCSC 1842, the Court considered a case involving an employee who had been given 13 months of working notice. Believing this to be insufficient given her 30 years of service, she retained counsel, who sent two demand letters...
Take it or leave it: 30% pay cut and demotion is a clear Constructive Dismissal
In McFarlane v King Ursa Inc, 2025 ONSC 3553, the plaintiff was a senior executive at a marketing agency who went on maternity leave after a rapid rise to an Executive Vice-President role. During her leave, the employer faced financial troubles, and other executives...
When Employer Delay Tactics Backfire: Massive Notice Period for Short-Term Employee
In Ferguson v Yorkwest Plumbing Supply Inc, 2025 ONSC 5866, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice entered a default judgment for the employee plaintiff, awarding $170,415 in damages. This sum represented six months’ pay in lieu of reasonable notice (including salary...
A New Record Precedent in Alberta: 26 Months’ Severance Including Profit-Sharing/Bonuses
In Lischuk v K-Jay Electric Ltd, the Alberta Court of King’s Bench ruled in favour of the plaintiff, Glenn Lischuk (a long-term employee and former General Manager of K-Jay). Justice Angotti found that Mr. Lischuk had been wrongfully dismissed without cause and was...
Stricter Standards for Fiduciaries: Just Cause for Termination
Just Cause for Dismissal In a new decision of the British Columbia Supreme Court, Vestergaard v Destiny Media (2025 BCSC 2093), the Court reaffirmed the contextual approach to just cause, examining whether a CEO’s misconduct – viewed in light of his senior role –...
Honesty, Integrity And Just Cause For Termination: A Case Comment
Mechalchuk v Galaxy Motors (1990) Ltd, 2023 BCSC 635 is a pivotal British Columbia Supreme Court decision that underscores the importance of honesty in the employer-employee relationship, particularly for senior executives. Case Summary Facts: Todd Mechalchuk...
Has Your Employer Been Purchased, And You’ve Been Offered New Employment Which You’re Told You Must Accept? A Case Comment
In Giduturi v LG Electronics Canada Inc, 2023 ONSC 5476, the Ontario Superior Court addressed the wrongful dismissal of a long-serving warehouse employee and clarified the application of the duty to mitigate in the context of business outsourcing. Factual...
The Importance Of Mitigation Efforts Following Termination Of Employment: A 20% Reduction In Damages
In Zoehner v Algo Communication Products Ltd, 2023 BCSC 224, the British Columbia Supreme Court examined the mitigation of damages following the wrongful dismissal of Doug Zoehner, a 63-year-old co-owner and former president of Algo Communication Products Ltd. ...
Are You Both An Employee And A Shareholder? Share Buy Back Clauses Can Limit Damages In Wrongful Dismissal Claims
In Kirke v Spartan Controls Ltd, 2025 ABCA 40, the Alberta Court of Appeal addressed the intersection of employment and shareholder rights in the context of wrongful dismissal damages. Key Legal Issues: 1. Entitlement To Profit-sharing Payments...
Has Your Job Fundamentally Changed Over Time? Your Contract May Not Be Enforceable: The Employment Law Doctrine Of Changed Substratum
In Alberta employment law, the doctrine of changed substratum is basically this idea: If an employee’s role or job duties change substantially over time from what they were originally hired to do, then the employment contract they originally signed might no longer...
Wrongful Dismissal Damages In A Fixed-term Contract: What’s An Employee Owed?
In a fixed-term contract, an employee is hired for a set period (e.g., 6 months, 1 year, etc.). If the employer ends the contract early without cause (i.e., without serious misconduct) and without a valid contractual right to do so, the employee can claim wrongful...
Can An Employee’s Secret Recordings Be Just Cause For Termination? A Case Comment
In the case of Wan v H&R Block Canada Inc, 2024 ABKB 734, the Alberta Court of King’s Bench addressed whether an employee’s secret recordings of workplace meetings constituted just cause for dismissal. Case Background • Employee: Timothy Wan, Vice President...
Induced To Leave Job With 27 Years Of Service: Award Of 12 Months Notice In New Job After Only 2.5 Years Of Service
In Ferweda v Mercer Celgar Limited Partnership, 2024 BCSC 844, the British Columbia Supreme Court addressed the legal principles surrounding inducement in employment and the obligations of employers during recruitment. Backround Mr. Ferweda, an operations...
Can Employers Withhold Bonus During Termination? A Case Comment
Maximenko v Zim, 2024 ONSC 5540 is a significant Ontario Superior Court decision concerning wrongful dismissal and the calculation of reasonable notice and bonuses. Background Ms. Maximenko, nearly 59 years old, served as a General Manager at Zim Integrated Shipping...
Violence, Aggression And Abuse Lead To Significant Damages: A Constructive Dismissal Case Comment
Case Summary: In Osmani v Universal Structural Restorations Ltd., 2022 ONSC 6979, the Ontario Superior Court found that the plaintiff, Mr. Osmani, had been constructively dismissed after enduring repeated workplace harassment and abuse from his supervisor, which the...
Employers Are Bound By Termination Clauses, Too: A Case Comment
In Klyn v Pentax Canada Inc, 2024 BCSC 372, the Supreme Court of British Columbia examined how an employer’s conduct during the termination process can invalidate an otherwise enforceable termination clause. Background: • Mr. Klyn began working with Pentax as...
Significant Damages For Constructively Dismissed Employee: A Case Comment
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice’s decision in Scarrow v Walkey et al, 2024 ONSC 3876, underscores key legal principles in employment law, particularly concerning constructive dismissal, implied contractual terms, and employer obligations. Constructive...
Non-compete & Non-solicitation Unenforceable Against Employees: A Case Comment
In Great North Equipment Inc v Penney, 2024 ABKB 533, the Alberta Court of King’s Bench examined the enforceability of non-solicitation and non-competition clauses within a shareholders’ agreement, focusing on the issue of consideration. Background: Great North...
Injunction Not Granted Against Employees: A Case Comment
In Southwest Design & Construction Ltd v Janssens, 2024 ABKB 502, the Alberta Court of King’s Bench addressed an application for an interim injunction by Southwest Design & Construction Ltd. (“Southwest”) against its former employees, Blayne Janssens and David...
Another Overbroad Termination Provision: What It Means For Employees
In De Castro v Arista Homes Limited, 2024 ONSC 1035, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice addressed critical issues concerning the enforceability of termination clauses in employment contracts and the employer’s burden in proving an employee’s failure to mitigate...
Constructive Dismissal In Alberta: A Guide For Employees
Constructive dismissal is a legal concept that protects employees when an employer makes a fundamental change to the job or creates intolerable working conditions, effectively forcing the employee to resign. In Alberta, as in the rest of Canada, the law may treat such...
Rosenberg V Northern Nursing Solutions Inc, 2024 ABCJ 220: A Case Comment
This Alberta Court of Justice case involved a wrongful dismissal claim by a licensed practical nurse against her former employer, Northern Nursing Solutions Inc. The plaintiff had been recruited from a secure job in another province and later terminated after...
Is An Overbroad Termination Clause Enforceable? A Case Comment
In Dufault v Ignace (Township), 2024 ONCA 915, the Ontario Court of Appeal found the “for cause” termination clause in the contract was illegal and unenforceable, because it undermined the Ontario Employment Standards Act’s (ESA) employee protections. The ESA only...
Are You Subject To A Non-compete By Your Employer?
In Alberta, a non-competition clause in an employment agreement can be enforceable—but only under strict conditions. Courts in Alberta (and generally across Canada) are cautious with these clauses because they restrict a person’s ability to earn a living. Here’s what...
What Should A Severance Review Include?
A severance review should ensure that an employee is receiving fair and legally compliant compensation upon termination. Here’s what it should include: 1. Termination Clause Review (if There’s An Employment Contract) • Is there a written contract? • Does it...