“The law on termination clauses is constantly evolving and it’s very employee-friendly, so employers should be making notes in their calendars either at year-end or at the beginning of the year to have their contracts reviewed for compliance to make sure that the termination clauses are up-to-date and contain terms that are considered enforceable.”
So says employment lawyer Jeff Rochwerg of Turnpenney Milne in Toronto, after two levels of Ontario courts denied an employer’s claim that unenforceable termination provisions in a fixed-term employment contract also made the provision setting out the end date of the contract invalid.
Losani Homes is a home building company based in Hamilton, Ont. It hired the worker on July 6, 2022, on a fixed-term contract ending on July 6, 2023. The contract provided for an annual salary of $150,000 and included for-cause and without-cause termination clauses that limited the worker’s entitlement to termination pay.