Manager doesn’t like you? Alberta court says it’s not termination for cause

Baker v. Weyerhaeuser Company Limited

Many employees have encountered a similar situation to the one experienced by the employee in Baker v. Weyerhaeuser Company Limited. Some people may work for their employers for years in a productive and stress-free relationship, and possibly even love their job. Then one day, the company hires a new manager, and everything changes.

In the Baker case, a personality conflict that evolved into a “personal vendetta” resulted in the employer firing Mr. Baker for just cause, without severance pay.

Facts

Here are the facts as heard by the Court of Appeal of Alberta:

• Mr. Baker was a long-term employee who worked for Weyerhaeuser for a total of about 12 years between 2002 and 2015, with a short break in service
• Weyerhaeuser is one of the world’s largest producers of lumber, pulp, paper and packaging materials, as well as other wood products
• Baker had no incidents, no poor performance reviews, and no warnings from management until late 2015
• Tensions arose when Baker began reporting to a new manager, Mr. Cheeseman, who had transferred to his location in November of 2015
• Cheeseman told Baker that company leadership did not like him and crews did not want to work with him
• Beginning on November 16, 2015, several incidents occurred (some safety-related) and Baker received a written warning for poor performance
• Baker was dismissed for cause on December 21, 2015, and was not paid severance.
• Just cause, or a “with cause” dismissal, occurs when an employer ends the employment relationship without providing any compensation to the employee. The dismissed work may also be ineligible to collect employment insurance (EI) benefits. They will likely experience difficulty finding new employment.
• A termination for cause in Alberta is usually only justified where there has been serious misconduct – for example, theft or violence – that has been properly investigated or where there is a long history of poor performance that has been documented by the employer and for which the employer has assisted the employee in trying to rectify the issues.

Court Decision

A panel of three judges found that the main reason for Baker’s termination for cause was a personal vendetta on the part of Cheeseman. While some discipline may have been appropriate, the court felt that the termination was done in bad faith. The situation was “blown far out of proportion” considering the employee’s years of service and prior clean record. The court also found that the investigation preceding the termination was inadequate.

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How much is severance pay in Alberta?

Being dismissed “with cause” is a traumatic experience both emotionally and financially. The courts place a heavy burden on companies to establish that they were justified in firing someone without providing severance.

Both the trial judge and the Court of Appeal agreed that the employer incorrectly fired Baker for cause. The employer could not meet the heavy burden to prove its case. Weyerhaeuser ultimately had to pay the individual severance, amounting to one year’s worth of severance pay.

Lesson for Employees

• Don’t accept a “for cause” dismissal: If you are fired for cause, you won’t receive a severance package to hold you over until you find a new job. You may also have difficulty in finding a new job without a reference from your former employer, and you will likely not qualify for employment insurance benefits. It is imperative that an employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP assesses your situation so that they can determine if the termination was legitimate, and how much severance pay you should receive.
• Employer needs to build their case: Employers often rush to fire someone for cause without first establishing inappropriate conduct or a history of performance issues. The fact that an employee has had some difficulties at work does not automatically qualify them for a termination without compensation.

Lesson for Employers

• Don’t let personality conflicts influence your decision: Employers need to be extra careful when allowing personality conflicts between managers and employees to influence a decision to dismiss an employee for just cause.
• Don’t allege cause when there isn’t any: A company should always seek expert legal advice before terminating someone’s employment for cause, to ensure that the decision is legally sound.