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ARTICLE · 20 JANUARY 2015

Call It What You Want, It's Still Constructive Dismissal

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In Shirbigi v. JM Food Services Ltd. (2014 BCSC 1927), the B.C. Supreme Court found that an employer could not mask the fact that it had constructively dismissed the plaintiff simply by relocating her place of work.

CanadaEmployment and HR
Kyle Lambert
Kyle Lambert
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Actions that would otherwise be justification for an employee to claim constructive dismissal cannot be transformed simply by "requiring" an employee's relocation to another office or demanding that the employee accept an offer of alternative work.

In Shirbigi v. JM Food Services Ltd. (2014 BCSC 1927), the B.C. Supreme Court found that an employer could not mask the fact that it had constructively dismissed the plaintiff simply by relocating her place of work.

In Shirbigi, the plaintiff was hired by the defendant pizza franchisor as a district manager ("DM") and made responsible for overseeing, initially, 16 franchise locations. The plaintiff was required to travel regularly between the various locations to check up on their operations, and later lodged a complaint with the defendant's senior management after having the number of franchises which she oversaw jump from 16 to 23.

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