Diagnosable Psychological Injury Not Required for Award of Aggravated Damages: ONCA

Can a ‘little white lie’ about the reason for an employee’s termination of employment result in an award of aggravated damages? What if the employee is unable to demonstrate a diagnosable psychological injury?

In Krmpotic v. Thunder Bay Electronics Limited, 2024 ONCA 332, the Court of Appeal for Ontario held that mental distress is a broad concept; it includes a diagnosable psychological condition arising from the manner of dismissal but is not limited to that. In the Court of Appeal’s assessment, “There is a spectrum along which a person can suffer mental distress as a result of the manner of dismissal.”

It just got considerably easier for employees to obtain aggravated damages from the manner of dismissal.

Meritless Implication that Former Employee was Involved in Murder Results in $100,000 in Aggravated and Punitive Damages

Can an employee be awarded aggravated damages for his employer’s bad behaviour if that bad behaviour precedes his termination?

While for a long time the prevailing wisdom was that aggravated and punitive damages could only be awarded for behaviour “during the course of dismissal”- which are the words used by the Supreme Court of Canada in Wallace- recent case law seems to suggest that such timing may not be necessary.

For example, in Koshman v. Controlex Corporation, 2023 ONSC 7045, the Honourable Justice Charles T. Hackland of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice held that the employer’s bad behaviour in the two months preceding an employee’s summary dismissal could substantiate an award of aggravated damages.

And, if that wasn’t enough of a hook to get you to keep reading, what if I mentioned that the employer’s poor behaviour included its telling clients that it believed that the former employee may be implicated in murdering the company’s founder?

Employee’s Surreptitious Recording of Termination Meeting Leads to Award of Aggravated Damages

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” Almost everyone has heard the “Miranda” warning.

While those rights come out of the United States and are mostly intended to apply in the criminal context, as the case of Teljeur v. Aurora Hotel Group, 2023 ONSC 1324 (CanLII) demonstrates, such warning can also be sage in the employment law context.

Aggravated Damages Awarded for Heightened Frustration and Anxiety After Employer Fails to Investigate Workplace Harassment Allegations

Does the failure to respond to a request for a workplace harassment investigation warrant an award of aggravated damages, where the employee is later terminated for complaining about such harassment?

In Bassanese v. German Canadian News Company Limited et al., 2019 ONSC 1343 (CanLII), the Honourable Justice Lorne Sossin of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found that it does.

Frustration Does Not Require an Act of an Employer

Does frustration of contract for illness or injury require an act of an employer?

In Hoekstra v Rehability Occupational Therapy Inc., 2019 ONSC 562 (CanLII), Justice Alissa K. Mitchell of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that it did not.

In the same decision, the court ruled that the simple failure of the employer to pay the dismissed employee his minimum statutory entitlements on termination was not enough to trigger an award of punitive damages.

Emotional Upset Not Enough for Award of General Damages: ONCA

If being accused of breaking the law “takes a serious toll” on you, causing you “emotional upset”, can you successfully sue the person that caused that harm?

It is trite to observe that being accused of something that you did not do is likely to cause feelings of serious upset. In employment law, this scenario arises most frequently when an employer alleges “just cause” for the termination of an employee’s employment. But what do the courts have to say about this issue? Can someone sue for emotional upset?

In the case of 495793 Ontario Ltd. (Central Auto Parts) v. Barclay, 2016 ONCA 656, the Court of Appeal for Ontario confirmed that a plaintiff’s testimony of emotional upset, being unsupported by medical evidence, was insufficient to ground the substantial award of non-pecuniary damages made by the trial judge, the Honourable Regional Senior Justice Helen M. Pierce. (See reasons for decision reported at 2014 ONSC 3517.)

Doubling Down Damages – The Ontario Court of Appeal Sends Strong Message to Discriminatory Employers

What is the penalty for embarking on a “campaign of abuse”, intentionally designed to force a disabled employee to quit her job? In a June 2016 decision from the Court of Appeal for Ontario, Strudwick v. Applied Consumer & Clinical Evaluations Inc., 2016 ONCA 520, Ontario’s highest court awarded nearly a quarter million dollars plus costs following the wrongful dismissal of a long-term employee who has harassed and belittled by her employer after losing her hearing.

Termination After Being Made the Subject of Workplace Investigation may Entitle Employee to Moral Damages

If an employee is made the prime suspect in a workplace investigation but is found to be not responsible for the harm that was the subject of the investigation, can the employer nonetheless terminate the employee’s employment on a without cause basis with impunity?

In refusing to grant summary judgment fixing the applicable notice period and dismissing the plaintiff employee’s claims for moral and punitive damages in a termination without cause case, the Honourable Justice Margaret Eberhard in the case of Brownson v. Honda of Canada Mfg., 2013 ONSC 896, leave to appeal refused 2013 ONSC 6974, held that the answer may be that no, the employer cannot terminate the employee’s employment on a without cause basis with impunity.