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ARTICLE · 15 MARCH 2017

Moral Damages And Human Rights Damages

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Wrongful dismissal cases can involve more than a person seeking payment of additional pay in lieu of notice; they can also include a claim for other kinds of damages, including moral damages.

CanadaEmployment and HR
Mark Josselyn
Mark Josselyn
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Wrongful dismissal cases can involve more than a person seeking payment of additional pay in lieu of notice; they can also include a claim for other kinds of damages, including moral damages.

Moral damages are those that flow from the manner of dismissal; if the conduct of the employer is held to be unfair or in bad faith causing the employee to experience mental distress (see Keays v. Honda Canada Inc., 2008 SCC 39 @ para. 59), these additional "moral damages" may be ordered.  Moral damages are an exception, not the rule: the normal distress and hurt feelings that result from a dismissal are not ordinarily compensable.

Damages can also be ordered for breaches of the Human Rights Code. A recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal examined whether Code-related damages and "moral damages" were one and the same, and how they might differ.

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