In Chan v. NYX Capital Corp. 2025 ONSC 4561 the Court had to determine the proper notice period for a 47 year old middle manager making $175,0000 / year ( 15 years of prior experience) who only worked for three months.
The Judge awarded a reasonable notice period of 3 months .
Of particular interest is what the Judge said about the difficulty that the Plaintiff would have un explaining to a potential employer why he was let go after only three months and how that would affect the notice period. This is what the Judge said:
Finally, I consider the availability of similar employment. In my view, this factor urges toward a longer notice period. The courts have recognized that where an employee has a very short period of employment, a longer notice period may be warranted. In Grimaldi v. CF+D Custom Fireplace Design Inc., 2023 ONSC 6708, the court awarded 5.5 months of notice to a plaintiff who had been employed for five months. The court reasoned that the longer notice period was warranted for Mr. Grimaldi, because a very short period of employment, particularly for someone of Mr. Grimaldi’s age and experience, made the search for other employment more difficult because it would “require him to explain to prospective employers why he was terminated so soon after being hired” (at para. 49).
The Court also found that because termination clause contained numerous references to ” any time and for any reason ” and ” at any time ” that the entire termination clause, including the reference to probationary employment, made the termination clause illegal as it offended the ESA. This whole issue will soon be addressed by the Court of Appeal in a upcoming appeal of two cases involving the same issue.
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