Supreme Court Restores Norm: No Termination Without Cause Under Canada Labour Code

On July 14, 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its decision in Wilson v. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, where the 6-3 majority concluded that federally regulated employers subject to the Canada Labour Code (the Code) cannot dismiss their employees on a without cause basis. The Supreme Court restored the initial decision by the adjudicator assigned to the complaint, overturning the decision by the Federal Court of Appeal on judicial review.

Background

As you may recall from our previous post on the Federal Court decision in this case, Joseph Wilson had been an employee of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) for four and a half years when he was terminated without cause and provided with a severance package of six months' pay. Mr. Wilson made an unjust dismissal complaint under the Code.