In a recent decision, the Court of Appeal for
Ontario held that an employer could not rely on a valid and
enforceable without-cause termination provision because the
employment contract included a separate for-cause termination
provision that violated the Employment Standards Act, 2000
("ESA").
In coming to its decision, the Court of Appeal considered it
irrelevant that the employer had not actually relied on the
for-cause termination provision when terminating the employment
relationship. The Court of Appeal also refused to give any effect
to the employment contract's severability provision.
This decision underscores the importance of ensuring that all
termination provisions comply with the requirements of the ESA,
both individually and collectively, as the courts may rely on the
invalidity of one such clause to refuse to give effect to other
ESA-compliant provisions.
