Rich Appiah

The plaintiff was terminated without cause from his position as a commissioned salesperson just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.

He brought a motion for summary judgment seeking pay in lieu of notice, including base salary, commissions on pending deals, and bonus pool payments.

The court awarded a 10-month notice period, explicitly accounting for the pandemic's negative impact on his job search.

The court also awarded the plaintiff his commission on a major transaction that closed during the notice period, but declined to award commission on a transaction that remained pending after the notice period expired.

The plaintiff, a US citizen, worked for Legend USA in California under contracts containing arbitration clauses.

He later relocated to Ontario to work for Legend Canada without signing a new contract.

After being terminated, he sued both companies for wrongful dismissal and unpaid overtime under the Employment Standards Act.

The defendants moved to stay the action based on the California arbitration agreements.

The court dismissed the motion, finding no arbitration agreement existed with Legend Canada, and the agreement with Legend USA did not cover the Ontario employment.

Furthermore, the court noted the arbitration clause would be invalid as an impermissible contracting out of the Employment Standards Act.

The plaintiff brought a wrongful dismissal action following termination after 14 years of employment as an accounts receivable/payroll administrator.

The primary issue was the appropriate period of reasonable notice and the quantum of damages where the trial occurred before the full notice period had elapsed.

Applying the Bardal factors, the court determined that a reasonable notice period was 12 months.

However, only 10 months had passed since termination and the plaintiff failed to provide sufficient evidence establishing that she would be unable to mitigate during the remaining period.

The court awarded damages for the proven 10 months of unemployment, less amounts already paid, and ordered conditional payment of the remaining two months subject to mitigation if no employment was obtained.