This is an appeal of a summary judgment in a wrongful dismissal action.
The motion judge had awarded the appellant damages equivalent to six months' reasonable notice, reduced by two months for failure to mitigate.
The Court of Appeal found that the motion judge erred in reducing the appellant's damages for failure to mitigate.
Specifically, the motion judge erred in principle by suggesting the appellant should have sought lesser-paying jobs and made a palpable and overriding error by concluding the appellant "aimed too high" based solely on job titles without considering comparable duties.
The Court emphasized that the employer bears a heavy burden to prove both that the employee failed to take reasonable steps and that comparable employment would have been found.
The appeal was allowed, and the damages were based on an eight-month notice period without the two-month reduction.