Over the course of this past year there have been several
important decisions dealing with the enforceability of termination
clauses in employment agreements, and how a court is to interpret a
clause to determine the employer's obligations to a departing
employee. The importance of these decisions can be seen by
contrasting the financial consequences that follow when an employer
makes the decision to terminate an individual's employment.
For instance, where a termination clause is enforceable and
successfully limits an employee's entitlements upon termination
to the statutory minimums prescribed by the applicable employment
standards legislation, an employer's financial obligations
associated with the amount of notice provided to the employee can
be measured in terms of weeks. On the other hand, where a
termination clause is either unenforceable or fails to limit the
employer's obligations, the length of the employee's notice
entitlement changes from weeks into
