Jessica Elizabeth David Nolan

The court considered a wrongful dismissal and unpaid commissions claim by Kashif Salam against his former employer, Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION).

The court found that while a draft commission plan was never finalized or binding, the parties’ conduct and employment agreement entitled Mr. Salam to commissions of up to 15% of his base salary.

The court awarded him damages for six months’ reasonable notice, loss of benefits, and commissions, totaling $58,419.52 less statutory deductions.

The court considered the appropriate scale and quantum of costs following a successful summary judgment motion for wrongful dismissal.

The plaintiff, John Teljeur, sought substantial indemnity costs, arguing the defendants' conduct was egregious and deserving of censure.

The court found the employer's failure to pay owed amounts and comply with statutory obligations justified an award of substantial indemnity costs, but made modest reductions for certain litigation steps.

The final award was $24,000 in substantial indemnity costs, inclusive of disbursements and HST.

This is an appeal from a wrongful dismissal judgment.

The appellants challenged the trial judge's findings on mitigation efforts, the award for lost benefits, and the award of moral damages.

The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial judge's decision, finding no palpable and overriding error in the determination that the respondent made reasonable mitigation efforts, the calculation of lost benefits, or the award of moral damages, noting that the bases for moral damages were pleaded and the appellants' conduct warranted censure.

The appeal was dismissed with costs awarded to the respondent.

The plaintiff, a former General Manager, brought a motion for summary judgment for wrongful dismissal, seeking damages for reasonable notice, lost fringe benefits, expense reimbursement, and moral damages.

The defendants conceded joint responsibility for damages and expense reimbursement but disputed the notice period, mitigation, and moral damages.

The court assessed the reasonable notice period at seven months, dismissed the defendants' mitigation arguments due to lack of evidence, and awarded moral damages of $15,000 due to the employer's bad faith conduct during termination, including failure to provide written notice, delayed ESA payments, and unfulfilled severance promises.

The defendant employer brought a motion to stay or dismiss the claim of one of the plaintiffs, who resided in Quebec, arguing that Quebec was the more appropriate forum (forum non conveniens).

The plaintiffs, who were all Vice-Presidents of Business Development, brought an action in Ontario for unpaid vacation pay.

Applying the Van Breda factors, the court found that the majority of key witnesses were in Ontario and that separating the Quebec plaintiff's claim would create a risk of multiplicity of proceedings and inconsistent findings.

The motion was dismissed, as the defendant failed to show that Quebec was a clearly more appropriate forum.