Federal Unjust Dismissal Process: Is An Evidentiary Hearing Required In "Without Cause" Cases?

In our Labour and Employment Communiqué of February 4, 2015 titled " Unjust Dismissal Clarified: Without Cause Terminations Not Prohibited by the Canada Labour Code," we reported on the Federal Court of Appeal's decision in Wilson v. Atomic Energy of Canada. In that judgment, the court determined that federally regulated employers can, without violating the relevant provisions of the Canada Labour Code (the "Code"), terminate employees without cause. In particular, the court concluded, "a dismissal without cause is not automatically 'unjust' under Part III of the Code. An adjudicator must examine the circumstances of the particular case to see whether the dismissal is 'unjust'". Later, the Court of Appeal commented that the reasons for termination had to "entail action taken exclusively to ensure the effective operation of the business and had to be something other than caprice, convenience or purely personal disputes". It is also clear from the court's decision in Wi