A 2023 Superior Court decision served as a reminder to employers to maintain integrity while terminating employees. A hotel manager was awarded $15,000 in moral damages plus other compensation for a termination he said was done in bad faith and that put his family in a vulnerable position, causing stress.

The employee had been working for three years as the General Manager of the defendants, a resort and conference centre in Haliburton, Ontario, when he was let go with no cause. At the time he was told the reason for his termination was due to the resort's decision to retain outside management.

The employee secretly recorded the termination meeting, which was submitted as evidence in his wrongful dismissal claim.

Employment lawyer Erin Minuk of Miller Thomson in Toronto told HRD that while the recording played a part in the judge's decision, it was the employers' failure to comply with some basic requirements outlined in the Employment Standards Act (ESA) that influenced the court's decision.