Litigating Wrongful Dismissals

Employers generally can dismiss employees with or without cause.

If you are dismissed without cause then in many jurisdictions the employer must provide 'reasonable notice' prior to your departure. It is this grey area that drives many cases of employment litigation.

It is previous case-law that determines what is the ‘reasonable notice’ period that employers need to provide in any given situation. There are Statutory requirements in terms of what a ‘reasonable notice’ period has to be at a minimum but often the common law notice periods are substantially longer.

Often the biggest issue is the cost of litigating a ‘wrongful dismissal’. The wrongfully dismissed employee (which includes the employee who did not receive a sufficient ‘notice’ period (or pay instead of the ‘notice’) has a duty to try to find alternate employment. If alternate employment is available, this can significantly reduce (if not eliminate) whatever ‘damages’ the employee would have suffered.

Provided by the law firm of Taylor Conway specializing in real estate and injury law.