Paul McKeever

The plaintiff, Robert Barlow, brought a motion for default judgment against his former employer, 6HARMONICS INC., for wrongful dismissal and breach of contract.

The defendant failed to defend the proceeding and was noted in default.

The court found that the employment agreement entitled the plaintiff to nine months’ pay in lieu of notice, and the defendant had only paid two weeks’ pay.

The court awarded the plaintiff $184,166.69 in damages, partial indemnity costs, and pre-judgment interest.

Claims for additional damages for mental distress were rejected due to lack of evidence.

The plaintiff brought an action for wrongful dismissal after being terminated without notice from a fixed-term employment contract that provided nine months’ pay if ended early.

The employer alleged cause and counterclaimed for conversion and misuse of confidential information, asserting the employee sold a company health and safety manual to another business.

The court found the manual template had been created by the employee prior to employment and remained his property, and that the employer failed to prove misuse of confidential information or breach of directives regarding outside consulting work.

The dismissal for cause was unsupported.

The employee was entitled to contractual damages equal to nine months’ salary.