Wrongful dismissal

Wrongful dismissal is a court claim that an employer ended employment without cause and without giving enough notice or pay in lieu.

Also called: wrongful termination, wrongful dismissal claim

What wrongful dismissal means

Wrongful dismissal is a legal claim by a former employee that you ended their employment without giving the notice they were owed. In Canada it is mostly about notice, not about the reason. You can usually end a non-union employee's job without cause; it becomes wrongful when you do not give proper notice or pay in lieu, or when you claim cause you cannot prove.

The claim is brought in court, under the common law, and the usual remedy is money: damages equal to what the employee would have earned during the reasonable notice period. It is different from an employment standards complaint, which asks a government office to enforce the statutory minimums, and from a statutory unjust dismissal complaint, which some jurisdictions allow.

How it works

Most claims start the same way: the employee says they were owed more notice than they got. The court decides what reasonable notice was, using the Bardal factors such as the type of job, length of service, age and availability of similar work. It then subtracts what you already paid. If you alleged cause, the court first decides whether you proved it.

Damages can be reduced if the employee does not try to find new work, or does find it. That is the duty to mitigate, and the Supreme Court of Canada has said the employer carries the burden of proving the employee failed to mitigate. Separate damages can also be possible for bad faith in the way a dismissal is carried out, but those are a distinct claim from the notice period.

The best protection is a clear, enforceable written contract that sets out notice, and handling terminations carefully: decide calmly, pay at least the statutory minimum on time, avoid accusations you cannot support, and put everything in writing.

Statutory unjust dismissal is a different route. A few jurisdictions let certain employees challenge the reason for a dismissal itself, and can order reinstatement. Those are listed below.

Wrongful dismissal by province

Wrongful dismissal claims work the same way across the common-law provinces. These are the statutory routes we confirmed that sit alongside them.

Where the work is done	The rule
Federal	Non-manager employees with 12 or more consecutive months of continuous service and no collective agreement can file an unjust dismissal complaint within 90 days. The Canada Industrial Relations Board decides these cases.
Ontario	An employee cannot file an ESA claim for the same issue they have taken to court. An employee who files a claim and then decides to sue must withdraw the claim within 2 weeks.
Quebec	Employees with 2 years of uninterrupted service can complain of dismissal without good and sufficient cause within 45 days. The Tribunal administratif du travail can order reinstatement and lost wages.
Nova Scotia	Employees with 10 or more years of service cannot be fired without good reason or just cause. Labour Standards can order reinstatement with back pay, or pay in lieu of reasonable notice.

Example: Fired for cause, then sued in Barrie

Carla owns a 16-person landscaping company near Barrie. She fires a crew lead of 9 years for cause after he argues with a client, and pays nothing. He has never been warned before.

He sues for wrongful dismissal. One argument is unlikely to be cause, so the court looks at reasonable notice for a 9-year employee, and the ESA minimums of 8 weeks' notice plus any severance pay are owed regardless. Carla's cheaper option would have been to warn him, or to end the job without cause and pay properly.

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Questions about wrongful dismissal

What is the difference between wrongful dismissal and unjust dismissal?

Wrongful dismissal is a common-law court claim about not getting enough notice. Unjust dismissal is a statutory complaint, available for example federally, in Nova Scotia (10 or more years) and in Quebec (2 or more years), that challenges the dismissal itself.

Can I be sued for firing an employee without cause?

You can be sued if you did not give the notice owed. Paying at least the statutory minimum, and following any valid contract, reduces the risk, but common-law notice may be higher.

Does finding a new job reduce wrongful dismissal damages?

Usually yes. Earnings from new work during the notice period can reduce damages, and the employee has a duty to look for work.

Official sources

General information for Canadian employers, not legal advice. Rules differ by province and territory and change over time, so check with your provincial employment standards office (or the federal Labour Program if you are federally regulated) before you rely on it. See employment standards by province.

Checked against official sources on 4 November 2026.