Terminating "Just Cuz" Or For Just Cause? Recent Decisions Maintain A High Threshold For Just Cause Terminations

Courts are increasingly reluctant to find that employers have just cause to terminate their employees: Underhill v Shell Canada Limited, 2020 ABQB 341; Mack v Universal Dental Laboratories Ltd, 2020 ABQB 738; Baker v Weyerhaeuser Company Ltd., 2020 ABQB 808; and Nagy v. William L. Rutherford (B.C.) Limited 2021 BCCA 62.

For many employers, 2020 was a difficult year. On top of the challenges that COVID-19 presented, employers have had to grapple with several unfavourable employment law decisions. The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench has continued this trend in three recent decisions that all favoured employees and found that the employers did not have just cause to terminate the employees' employment. Additionally, the British Columbia Court of Appeal overturned a finding of after-acquired just cause for dismissal and remitted the matter back to the trial court. Each of these cases is discussed in greater detail below, following a review of the general