A termination for good business reasons does not always equate
to a termination for just cause. In the recent decision of
the Ontario Superior Court in Barton v. Rona Ontario Inc.,
Mr. Justice Lauwers stated that even if an employee's serious
misconduct was such that the employer concluded that it needed to
dismiss him to make an example of him, the misconduct might not
necessarily be sufficient to warrant a termination without
notice.
The Facts:
Barton was employed by the defendant for over 10 years and at
the time of termination he was an assistant store manager.
Under his watch, an order picker truck was used to lift a
wheelchair-bound employee from the ground floor to a second floor
training centre and back again, for computer training (due to the
fact that the only training office in the store was on the second
floor and not otherwise accessible to wheelchairs). This
incident was contrary to the defendant's safety expectations as
set out in the Employee
