Dismissed employee is limited to one recovery process for damages and cannot seek double recovery under both the legislative and common law regimes
Dismissal and Employment Law Digest
By: Howard Levitt
Plaintiff was hired by defendant in Alberta pursuant to fixed term employment contract, followed by additional fixed term contracts — Ultimately she was hired on indefinite basis — On June 28, 2011 plaintiff was transferred to Ontario — Transfer was at plaintiff’s request — Whether move was “permanent” was not necessarily clear, but nature of her work required plaintiff to travel from province to province — Plaintiff was dismissed on September 10, 2011 without cause — Dismissal letter made it clear that she would receive her entitlements under Employment Standards Act, 2000 (Ont.) — Plaintiff brought proceedings before Ontario Ministry of Labour claiming additional vacation pay and termination pay, and that matter proceeded to resolution — Plaintiff commenced action against defendant in Alberta for damages for wrongful dismissal — Defendant applied to dismiss claim on basis of provisions in Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 which gave employee election either to seek remedies under Act using government regulator, or to bring civil proceedings, but not both — Application granted — Plaintiff, having attorned to jurisdiction of Ontario employment standards regulator, had accepted that Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 applied to her claim for relief resulting from her termination — By doing so she accepted recovery process under that legislation — Act expressly provided that as result of using Ontario’s regulatory assistance plaintiff had no further civil claim for damages arising from termination of her employment. Karmali v. Donorworx Inc. (2015), 250 A.C.W.S. (3d) 260, 2015 CarswellAlta 247, 2015 ABQB 105 (Alta. Q.B.)