April 16, 2003 by Israel Foulon LLP
Question: In Ontario can an employee bring a claim under the Employment Standards Act, 2000, in addition to starting an action for damages for wrongful dismissal?
Answer: No, under the Employment Standards Act, 2000, an employee cannot sue an employer for wrongful dismissal and also maintain a claim for termination or severance pay pursuant to the act.
The act provides that an employee may start a civil action after starting an employment standards complaint only if the complaint is withdrawn within two weeks after having been filed.
After this two-week period, the employee should be confined to his ESA claim and should no longer be permitted to start or continue a civil action for wrongful dismissal (subject only to a court’s inherent jurisdiction to do justice in any particular case.
For more information see:
- Scarlett v. Wolfe Transmission Limited, 2002 CarswellOnt 3917 (O.S.C.)
Peter Israel is the senior partner in the Toronto law firm of Israel Foulon LLP – Employment and Labour Lawyers. He can be reached at 416-640-1550 or pi@qtw38575.mywhc.ca. A version of this article originally appeared in the Carswell publication, Canadian Employment Law Today