Enforceable But "Harsh" Termination Provision Defeated By Lack Of Notice

The Employers' Edge blog has written extensively about the challenges of drafting an enforceable termination provision. This week brings us a particularly frustrating decision of the Ontario Superior Court which held that the otherwise legally enforceable termination provisions of a Stock Awards Agreement could not be enforced as the employer did not specifically bring them to the employee's attention.

In Battiston v Microsoft Canada Inc, the plaintiff was a long-service employee of Microsoft who, in addition to his base salary, received benefits including stock awards, amounting to approximately 30% of his annual compensation. Upon termination, Microsoft advised that the plaintiff was no longer entitled to the vesting of any granted by unvested stocks in accordance with the terms of its Stock Award Agreement. The plaintiff argued that he was entitled to have previously granted stock awards vest during the notice period on the basis that he did not read the Stock