Legal Blog

Employee Resignation

Johal v. Simmons Da Silva LLP 2016 Ont SCJ

If an employee resigns her employment and the employer accepts that resignation, then the employee is precluded from changing her mind and resiling from the resignation. If the employer never accepted the resignation, then the employee has a right to reinstatement if the employer is unable to show detrimental reliance. But what is a resignation? It has to be clear and unequivocal and it requires a fact-driven assessment of all relevant evidence. In this case, the judge held that “a reasonable person would not have viewed the Plaintiff’s action as a voluntary resignation” even though the plaintiff had been vocally unhappy with her proposed reassignment, handed in her security fob, and left the office for a week without further explanation. The judge held that, given the circumstances (e.g. a 62-year-old employee who had been employed for 27 years), the employer was required to something to determine the employee’s true and unequivocal intention.

Written by Jonathan Speigel Jonathan Speigel, the founding partner of Speigel Nichols Fox LLP, leads the litigation and construction practices.