Case Note: Employee Absenteeism Justifies Summary Dismissal

The Ontario Labour Relations Board overturned an employment standards officer's direction to an employer to pay $11,000 to a terminated employee in Exel Canada Ltd v McCarthy, 2014 CanLII 19404.

The Board held that the employer had established wilful misconduct on the part of the employee in the form of repeated breaches of the employer's attendance policy requiring employees to call in to report an anticipated absence from work prior to the start of their scheduled shifts. The wilful misconduct justified summary dismissal and relieved the employer of any obligation to pay termination, severance or vacation pay to the employee upon termination.

Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP