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In Kwasnycia v Goldcorp Inc., 1995 CanLII 7276, after 35 years with Goldcorp Inc. (“Goldcorp”), working as an electrician in the area of Red Lake, Ontario, the Plaintiff was wrongfully dismissed. At the time of dismissal, the Plaintiff was 57 years old and had no real prospects of finding similar employment.
The Plaintiff brought a wrongful dismissal action against Goldcorp. The Court found that he was entitled to 24 months reasonable notice, which is the notional ‘cap’ on notice awards, although some cases, particularly more recently, do get higher. In awarding this notice period the Court considered the well-known Bardal factors: character of employment, length of service, the age of the employee and the fact that no similar employment was available in the area where he lived.
What is particularly noteworthy about this case is that the Court also awarded damages for lost overtime over the two-year notice period. Goldcorp agreed that the Plaintiff routinely worked overtime and the Court decided that he was entitled to the overtime income he had consistently earned in the past over the notice period.
The lesson for employees is, just like other terms of employment, if overtime becomes an integral part of their employment, the employee will be entitled to the lost compensation over the notice period.
As readers of this blog will know, sometimes the largest disparity between the parties when negotiating a package is not just the amount of months but ensuring that the worth of a month is an accurate picture of the employee’s compensation, particularly with benefits, pension contributions, bonuses, commissions, overtime payments, stock awards and stock options etc.
Should you have a question on your termination package or would like advice on what to offer an employee on termination, contact Monkhouse Law today.
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