An employee with 33 years of service brought a wrongful dismissal action after being laid off and subsequently refusing the employer’s offer to return to work.
The court accepted that the layoff constituted constructive dismissal and that the reasonable notice period would have been 24 months.
However, applying Evans v. Teamsters Local Union No. 31, the court held that a reasonable person would have accepted the employer’s prompt offer of reinstatement because the workplace would not have been hostile or humiliating.
The employee therefore failed to mitigate damages by refusing to return.
The claim for damages in lieu of notice and moral damages was dismissed.
