On October 4, 2023, the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta rendered a very significant decision by awarding the Corporate Employer punitive damages against its prior President and CEO, in the case of Breen v. Foremost Industries Ltd. 2023 ABKB 552.   The…

In a recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (May 2021), Humphrey v. Mene, a 32 year old employee with  over 2 ½ years of service earning $90,000.00 per annum plus stock options, recently promoted to Chief Operating Officer…

Senior Executives, Directors and Senior Managers have compensation packages that often include bonuses, stock options, and/or  LTIP payments. The Supreme Court of Canada in Matthews v. Ocean Nutrition Canada Ltd. (October 9, 2020) (which was a case out of Nova Scotia) confirmed…

If an employee is terminated and their remuneration package included a bonus component, they should vigorously pursue their claim for damages for the loss of the bonus(es). If payment for the bonus(es) is not included in the Company's proposed severance…

A letter of reference is a key term in a wrongful dismissal matter. It would be prudent in most situations to include the actual letter as a term of the settlement. Attach it as an appendix, along with a provision that the oral references are consistent with the content of the reference letter. In some situations, it is stipulated that the oral references are confined to what is stipulated in the reference letter. This way you have made the reference letter and the oral references an actual term of the settlement.