If an employment contract makes no mention of the payment of statutory severance in the event of a termination without cause, is the contract legally unenforceable regardless of whether the employee is actually entitled to severance at the time of dismissal? That is to say, must an employment agreement account for all future hypothetical scenarios in order to be legally binding?
In the case of Garreton v Complete Innovations Inc., 2016 ONSC 1178 the Honourable Mr. Justice Laurence A. Pattillo endorsed the words of Justice Low in Wunderman, “It is not that difficult to draft a clause that complies completely with the Act, no matter the circumstance” and held that, unless an employment contract would always be valid, no matter what the reality at the time of termination, it is void from the start.
