Can Partners Ever Be Employees? The McCormick Decision

In its unanimous decision in McKormick v. Fasken Martineau Dumoulin LLP¹, released in May 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada decided that an equity partner in a B.C. law firm was not an "employee" within the meaning of the British Columbia Human Rights Code. The case is significant to professionals operating in "partnership" across the country.

McCormick had filed a complaint alleging that his firm's mandatory retirement policy contravened Human Rights legislation. Similar to the legislation in other provinces, the B.C. Code prohibits discrimination in "employment" on a number of prohibited grounds, including "age". The issue was whether McCormick was an "employee" and therefore afforded the protections of the Code.