Canadian Lawyer InHouse

April 2015 8 INHOUSE still go the other way but I would be surprised given it is a very well reasoned decision, very exhaustive," he says. "If it stands I do think it resolves the issue conclusively." A request for interview with Wilson's law- yer was not answered by time of posting. Wilson was employed by AECL for four and a half years, starting as a senior buyer/ order administrator. He received promotions and his last was to procurement supervisor, tooling but it was not a managerial job. He was terminated Nov. 16, 2009. AECL dismissed Wilson on a without- cause basis and offered six months severance — considered above and beyond the standard statutory requirement under the code — in exchange for full and final release. Under the code, Wilson would have been entitled to just 18 days severance. He did not sign the release and alleged he had been unjustly dismissed contrary to s. 240 of the code. In particular, he alleged he was dis- missed because he had complained about im- proper procurement practices on the part of AECL. (The parties have yet to go back be- fore an arbitrator to address that allegation.) Wilson remained on AECL's payroll for six months and in the end he received the full amount of the severance package originally offered. Snyder adds the decision does not mean it is "open season" on non-union federal em- ployees. "To those who think the sky is now fall- ing should take continued comfort that in ac- cordance with the Federal Court of Appeal's judgment, employees will continue to have access under the code to have determined whether their dismissals were unjust, wheth- er or not they were dismissed for cause." Under part three of the Canada Labour Code, which deals with non-unionized em- ployees in s. 240, where an employee has been dismissed and the employee views it as "unjust" he or she can file a complaint with the department of Employment and Social Development Canada (formerly HRSDC). That would then be referred to an adjudica- tor. Snyder says the Wilson decision, in con- junction with the lower federal court award, "completely reshapes the law of employment dismissals in this country" for employers regulated federally. "This is a transformational or game changing event. There's no doubt about it," he says. It may also serve to level the playing field between provincial and federal employers. "In the provincial sector, an employer has always been able to terminate for just cause or, alternatively, terminate on a with- out-cause basis provided they provide the employee with appropriate working notice or severance pay depending on the relative provincial employment standard in effect," he says. Federally, since the introduction of the unjust dismissal legislation under the code in news roundup Because business issues are legal issues. So if you want to get ahead in business, get the degree that gets you there faster. ONE YEAR – PART - TIME – NO THESIS FOR L AWYERS AND NON - LAWYERS law.utoronto.ca/ExecutiveLLM GPLLM Global Professional Master of Laws [Get a Master of Laws] ntitled-3 1 2015-03-02 9:02 AM

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