Quitting without giving proper notice could land you in legal trouble.
That's what happened in late January, when two B.C. employers attempted to recoup thousands from their recently-departed employees after the workers quit their jobs without proper notice.
Luckily for those employees, neither employer's lawsuit at the province鈥檚 small claims tribunal was successful and both cases were dismissed.
But employmentexperts say workers shouldn鈥檛 take this as a go-ahead to resign without giving their bosses a proper heads up.
鈥淕enerally speaking, it's not financially worth it for an employer to pursue damages for breach of contract in the event of an early resignation, given how expensive it is to hire a lawyer and go to court,鈥 said Sunira Chaudhri, founding lawyer at Workly Law, an employment law firm based in Toronto.
鈥淎dding to the costs, it can also be pretty hard to establish a loss (stemming from) someone quitting with no notice ... because in contract law, you need to show proof of having suffered damages in order to get compensation.鈥
The two recent B.C. cases are 鈥減erfect examples鈥 of these hurdles for employers, Chaudhri added.
In the first, John Fleming Insurance Agency asked the tribunalfor $3,000 in compensation after Davik Mehta, an insurance broker, quit without notice in 2022. In the second case, a numbered B.C. company claimed $2,400 in damages after employee Wendy Reyes quit with two weeks' notice instead of the required three, as per her contract.
However, the court ruled both employers didn't provide enough evidence of the damages caused by the employees' abrupt departures.
In Mehta鈥檚 case, tribunal member Christopher Rivers said the insurance agency could have produced evidence that clients had chosen not to do business with it because of his 鈥渟udden departure,鈥 or records of lost revenue the employee would have brought in.
Loss of revenue due to an employee quitting is the most common basis for a wrongful resignation suit, said Mark Tector, a partner in the labour and employment group at Stewart McKelvey Lawyers in Halifax.
Additionally, he noted that evidence of extra onboarding costs 鈥 or having to pay other employees overtime 鈥 could also constitute a basis for compensation.
鈥淚f the employee in question had a very specific skill set that鈥檚 difficult to find in a short amount of time and the employer had to incur additional costs 鈥 like a recruiter, or paying someone else extra to work longer 鈥 that could be something an employer might sue for,鈥 said Tector.
Though Tector agreed the costs of litigation might deter some companies from attempting such lawsuits, legislation in certain provinces provides an easier route through which employers can recoup their losses.
For instance, Section 73 of Nova Scotia鈥檚 Labour Standards Code provides that employees must give their employer a certain amount of notice upon resignation, usually between one and two weeks, depending on their length of employment.
鈥淚f an employee quits without the notice required by the legislation, they could bring a complaint ... to the Labour Standards Division, and if they prove their case, could withhold an employees鈥 unpaid wages to compensate for any damages they suffered as a result of the early resignation,鈥 he said.
Though employers must still provide proof of damages, Tector noted that the costs of filing a complaint with the province's Labour Standards Division arecheaper than bringing a suit for breach of an employment contract. This means employers may be more inclined to do so in provinces where a complaint review is a possibility 鈥 though not every province with legislation regarding mandatory notice periods regulates complaints.
鈥淢y first thought would be ... don't quit without giving the proper notice or resignation under your contract,鈥 said Tector.
鈥淎nd before quitting, take a look at what your contract says, as well as the legislation in your province 鈥 because you could be at a bigger risk of liability depending on the ways employers can hold you accountable.鈥
Chaudhri echoed this advice, emphasizing that though 春色直播 courts don鈥檛 necessarily want to hamper employees鈥 job mobility, they want to strike a balance between employees鈥 work freedom and ensuring those same employees honour their obligations.
She also cautioned employees against relying on a constructive dismissal or 鈥渜uitting with cause鈥 claim when resigning without notice, where the worker alleges their employer created such a hostile work environment that their resignation wasn鈥檛 voluntary.
鈥淚t's certainly tenuous to allege constructive dismissal even in the best of cases because the Supreme Court has laid out a high threshold to meet,鈥 she said, 鈥渁nd will be especially hard to prove where an employee left their original job and immediately started a new one, because that suggests there鈥檚 maybe something else at play there.鈥
In the end, both Chaudhri and Tector recommended employees play it safe when it comes to quitting.
鈥淓specially if you鈥檙e in a situation where your departure may have involved some kind of controversy, you really don鈥檛 want to leave it open to the employer to test these kinds of claims against you as a form of retaliation,鈥 said Chaudhri.
鈥淪o leave with the right amount of notice 鈥 and if you can, maybe even offer a bit extra.鈥
鈥 Pascale Malenfant is a law student and freelance writer based in Montreal.
This report by 春色直播was first published Feb. 21, 2024.
