By Mike Stimpson | Thunder Bay Source
IGNACE, Ont. – The Supreme Court of Canada won’t hear a Northwestern Ontario township’s appeal of a wrongful-dismissal judgment against it, meaning the municipality must pay more than $157,000 to a former employee.
“The Township of Ignace is disappointed that the Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed, with costs, Corporation of the Township of Ignace v. Karen Dufault, our application for leave to appeal from the judgment of the Court of Appeal for Ontario in the case of Dufault v. Ignace (Township), 2024,” the municipality said in a public statement.
The statement further said municipal officials “are restricted from addressing any aspects of this case publicly and no further comments will be made on this matter.”
The high court’s dismissal of Ignace’s application to make an appeal was posted on June 6.
It’s “the absolute end of the line” for the township in this case, Toronto lawyer Jon Pinkus, who represented Dufault, told Newswatch on Monday.
The township can file no further appeals, he said.
Pinkus said the Supreme Court’s dismissal is important for two reasons.
The first, he said, is that it reinforces the principle that employers don’t have the right to terminate an employee at any time they see fit.
The municipality “sought to challenge that principle, and the Supreme Court did not agree to hear that, which means that a lower-court decision on that issue remains good law. So that’s what most people care about,” he said.
“What is less talked about, but in my view equally significant, is this is now the second time that the Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear an appeal of the Waksdale decision, which is a very significant decision from five years ago.”
In the Waksdale case, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that an employment contract’s entire termination clause is void if any part of it violates the Employment Standards Act.
“There should be absolutely no question now that the Supreme Court of Canada is not going to interfere with that Waksdale decision,” said Pinkus. “This is the law of Ontario and it’s going to stay that way.”
Dufault was employed as the Township of Ignace’s youth engagement coordinator from Jan. 31, 2022, until her termination without cause on Jan. 26 of the following year – nearly two years before the term of her employment contract was to end.
The municipality gave Dufault two weeks’ salary as severance pay, but she argued in court that she was entitled to 101 weeks’ pay because the termination clause in her contract was illegal and unenforceable.
Superior Court Justice Helen Pierce agreed and on Feb. 16, 2023, awarded her $157,000 – 101 weeks’ worth of pay and benefits – in damages.
The township appealed, arguing the contract’s termination clause complied with Ontario’s Employment Standards Act.
A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals ruled in December 2024 that Pierce didn’t err in her decision.
In addition to the damages awarded by Pierce, the appeals judges ruled Dufault should be reimbursed for her costs relating to the township’s appeal.
Pinkus told Newswatch in January that the appeal court’s ruling was unsurprising.
Upholding Pierce’s decision made sense, he said, “in light of the fact that the termination clause in this case was so clearly illegal based on such longstanding, such well settled principles that have been enunciated so many times by not only lower courts but appellate courts.”
