In Dufault v. Ignace (Township), 2024 ONCA 915 [25] the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by the Town of Ignace in seeking to overturn the trial decision which held that the termination clause was illegal and thus unenforceable .
The Court upheld the trial judges decision that the clause was illegal because of the reasoning of the Court of Appeal in Waksdale v. Swegon North America Inc., 2020 ONCA 391.
Of more importance is what they did not do :
“Given our conclusion that the “for cause” termination clause of the employment contract is unenforceable as contrary to the ESA and that, pursuant to Waksdale, this renders all of the termination provisions unenforceable, it is not necessary to consider the appellant’s arguments that the motion judge erred in finding the “without cause” termination clause also unenforceable as contrary to the ESA, and we expressly do not rule on that submission. The appellant argued that the motion judge’s findings in relation to the “without cause” termination clause may affect other employment contracts. In our view, resolution of the issues the appellant raises regarding the “without cause” termination clause should be left to an appeal where it would directly affect the outcome. “
My Comment:
In my opinion the Court did what they should have done, which is not to comment on issues that would not have changed the outcome. From a practical point of view this means that the “sole discretion ” and the ” at any time ” arguments will continue to be raised in future cases.
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