Just Cause: The Capital Punishment of Employment Law

• Author: Matthew L.O. Certosimo
• Pages: 401-426



JustCause

TheCapitalPunishmentof

Employment Law

MahewLOCertosimo*

A. INTRODUCTION

Takingintoaccounttheimportanceofworkinourlivestherecanbeno

debateovert hesevere impact ofdismi ssalpa rticularly summary dis-

missalwithcauseIndeedasSwintonJoncenotedtherearethosewho

have characterized an employeessum mary dismissal as the capital

punishmentoftheemploymentrelationship

Whenanemployeeisdismissedwithjustcausetheemploymentre-

lationshipister minatedsummarilyAccordinglyasthe OntarioCourt

ofAppealstatedinMcIntyre v. Hockin

The causes which ar e sucient to justify di smissal must vary w ith

the nature of the employment and t he circumstance s ofe ach case

Dismissali sanextr ememeasureand nottoberesort edtofortri ing

causes The fault must be someth ing which a reason ablema n could

* MahewLOCertosimoisapart neratBordenLadnerGer vaisLLP

 KSwintonContractLawandth eEmploymentRelationshipThePr operFormfor

ReforminBJReiterandJSwanedsStudies in Contract LawTorontoBuer-

worthsatfootnote

 Foramoredetailedtreat mentofthetopicseeRanda llScoEchli nMahewLO

CertosimoJust Cause: The L aw of Summary Dismissal in CanadalooseleafAurora

ONCanadaLawBook

MLOC

notbe expec tedto overlook regardb eing hadto the nature and the

circumsta ncesoftheemployment

Whileatcommonlaweitherpartytoanemploymentcontractmaytermi-

natetheagreementatanytimesubjecttotheexpressandorimpliedterms

ofthecontracttheSupremeCourtofCanadahasrecognizedsuchasin

Wallacev United GrainGrowers Ltd the specialrelationshipbetween

employerandemployeeandthe uniquecharacterist icsofthe employ-

mentcontractasdierentiatedfromordinarycommercialcontractsby

virtueofthepowerimbalancebetweenemployerandemployeeIndeed

employeeshavebeen recognizedby theSupremeCourt ofCanada asa

vulnerableg roupinours ocietyThisv ulnerabil ityisasno tedbyIaco-

bucciJallthemoreacuteduringthetraumaticeventofdismissal

Soit is withi n this context that the SupremeCourt of Canada in

McKinleyvBCTelprovideditsguidanceonthedoctrineofjustc ause

UnderlyingtheapproachIproposeistheprincipleofproportionalityAn

eectivebalancemustbestruck betweentheseverityof anemployees

mis cond ucta ndt hes anc ti oni mpos ed The impo rta nce oft hi sbal anc eis 

beerunderstoodbyconsideringthesenseofidentityandselfworthin-

dividualsfrequentlyderivefromtheiremploymentaconceptthatwas

exploredinReferencerePublicServiceEmployeeRelationsActAlta

SCRwhereDicksonCJwritingindisse ntstatedatp

Workisoneofthemostfundamentalaspectsinapersonslife

providing the individual with a means of nancia ls upport

andasimporta ntlyacontributoryroleinsociet yApersons

employmentisan essentia lcomponentof hisor hersen seof

identityselfworthandemotionalwellbei ng

This passage wass ubsequently cited with approvalby thi sCour tin

Machtinger v HOJ Industries Ltd SCR  p and in

Wallace supraatparaInWalla cethe majorityaddedtot hisnotion

bystati ngthat noton lyis workitself fundame ntalto an individuals

identitybutthe manner inwhic hemploymentc anbe termin atedis

equallyimportant 

 OARatCA

 DLRthatSCCWallace

 Ibidat

 Ibid.adoptingSlaight Communications Inc. v. Davidso nDLRthat

SCCDicksonCJC

 Wallace ibid .at

 DLRthSCCMcKinley