Employment and Labor Law

By Dayna M. Steinfeld

The general rule in employment law is that employees can be terminated from employment without reason or cause, so long as employers provide proper notice of termination, or pay in lieu of notice. The exception to this rule is in unionized workplaces, where most employers are required to have just cause for termination in order to dismiss an employee. The grey area has long been in non-unionized, federally regulated workplaces, including banking, telecommunications, air transportation, and Crown Corporations, where the application of the Canada Labour Code (“Code”) allows certain employees to complain that their dismissal was “unjust”. The question for federal employers is what exactly constitutes an “unjust dismissal” —is it dismissal without appropriate notice? Or dismissal without cause?

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