Judges Reduces Notice Period For Failing to Look for a Job in Same Field That Plaintiff Spent 25 Years In and Then Discounts Go Forward Damages by a Further 15%:

In Okano v. Cathay Pacific Airways ( 2022 BCSC 881) Justice Weatherill had a situation where the following events occurred regarding mitigation.

1. Plaintiff is given working notice of two months so that she can shut down the department she managed. She does not look for a job in this period.
2. For two months after final day of work she also does not look for a job as she says she is depressed.
3. Then she takes career coaching for 3 months because she refuses to look for a job in the airline industry, the only area she has ever worked in .
4. She then applies for 50 non airline jobs, with no success.

The Judge made the following rulings:

1. It was reasonable for her not to look for a job in the 2 month working notice period as she was assisting in the transfer of the Canadian jobs to the Philippines.


2. It was not reasonable for her to not apply for airline jobs as ” it was incumbent upon the plaintiff to explore available positions in the very industry in which she had spent her entire working life.”

3. The judge knocked 3 months off a 24 month notice period and then reduced damages by a future 15% discount on the amount owing from the date of the hearing to the end of the 21 month notice period as the judge felt ” that there is a real and substantial possibility that she will find a job commensurate with her qualifications and experience at some point during the balance of the notice period.”
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