Dismissal due to business reasons in Canada
| Autor | Eric Tucker, Christopher Grisdale - Abdalla Barqawi |
| Cargo | Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University - Associate at Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP, Vancouver - Third-Year Law Student at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University |
| Páginas | 156-167 |
IUSLabor 1/2018
DISMISSAL DUE TO BUSINESS REASONS IN CANADA.
Eric Tucker,
Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University.
Cristopher Grisdale,
Associate at Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP, Vancouver
Abdalla Bargawi,
Third-Year Law Student at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University
Introduction
In the 2014 issue of the Comparative Labor Law Dossier, we set out the legal
framework related to dismissals due to business reasons in Canada. In this issue, we
provide an update on any changes that have occurred since the 2014 issue. Before
doing so, four introductory points warrant brief discussion.
First, as in 2014, Canada remains a liberal market economy and as such the law places
few restrictions on the employer’s freedom to dismiss an employee. In particular, the
law places no restriction on the freedom of employers to dismiss employees for business
reasons. However, dismissed employees are entitled to certain rights, the most
important of which is notice of termination or pay in lieu of notice.
Second, it must also be noted at the outset that the unionized and non-unionized
employees operate under somewhat different legal regimes. Non-unionized employees
derive their rights from their individual contracts of employment, which are governed
by the common law and minimum standards laws. Unionized employees (about 30% of
the labour force) derive their rights from the collective agreement. However, collective
agreement coverage in the private sector (where layoffs due to business reasons are far
more likely) is less than 16%, compared to 75% in the public sector.
120 Workers
covered by collective agreements cannot make claims under the common law but they
are covered by minimum standards laws.
Unionized employees are generally better protected against dismissal than non-
unionized employees. This is because collective agreements typically restrict the
employer’s freedom to dismissal by providing that dismissals shall only be for just
120 Calculated from Statistics Canada, CANSIM Table 282-0077 online at
http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26?lang=eng&retrLang=eng&id=2820077&&pattern=&stByVal=1&
p1=1&p2=31&tabMode=dataTable&csid=.
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