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ARTICLE · 02 JULY 2008

Keays v. Honda Canada Inc.

McCarthy Tétrault
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The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) released its much-anticipated decision in the appeal of the landmark case Keays v. Honda Canada Inc. on Friday, June 27, 2008.

CanadaEmployment and HR
Katharina Giesbrecht
Katharina Giesbrecht
Kelly McDermott
Kelly McDermott
Kate McNeill-Keller
Kate McNeill-Keller
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The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) released its much-anticipated decision in the appeal of the landmark case Keays v. Honda Canada Inc. on Friday, June 27, 2008.

The decision, which is summarized below, is very favourable for employers for three key reasons:

  1. It eliminates the largest award of punitive damages in a wrongful dismissal action in Canadian history, thereby eliminating what had previously been seen as a very expensive precedent for employers;
  2. It limits the scope of damage awards in the context of wrongful dismissal claims by doing away with the Wallace bump-up (i.e. extensions of a reasonable notice period as a result of bad faith conduct during termination) and restricting the availability of punitive damages awards; and

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