In Quebec, it is well established that every employee is legally
required to be loyal to his or her employer. This premise assures
the employer of a certain degree of protection, but the question
is, how much? Given the increasing mobility of employees, it is
important to know what an employer is entitled to expect from an
employee, particularly where the latter decides to leave to join a
competitor. The Quebec Court of Appeal reviewed the scope of the
duty of loyalty in its recent decision Traffic Tech
International inc. v. Milgram et Compagnie
ltée1. Before examining the decision, it is worth
recalling what this duty consists of.
The source of the duty of loyalty can be found in Article 2088
of the Civil Code of Québec (the
"Civil Code"), which reads as
follows:
