Employment Law: Just Cause, Termination, and Obligations

This assignment delves into key aspects of employment and human rights law, addressing critical concepts like just cause for dismissal, employer obligations under the Employment Standards Act (ESA) and Common Law, and constructive dismissal. It explores the grounds for just cause, including dishonesty, disobedience, and conflicts of interest. The assignment outlines employer responsibilities regarding termination notice, severance pay, and providing a safe work environment. It also covers the implications of constructive dismissal, where changes in employment terms lead to an employee's departure, and post-employment obligations, such as maintaining confidentiality of trade secrets and customer lists. The analysis encompasses both general employees and fiduciary employees, highlighting their differing responsibilities and the legal principles governing these relationships. The assignment provides a detailed overview of the legal framework surrounding employment termination, employee rights, and employer duties.

Running head: EMPLOYMENTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
EMPLOYMENTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1EMPLOYMENTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
Q1:
The term just cause can be referred to as a good cause or lawful cause. According to
the rule of Common Law, an employer can dismiss an employee based on such a crucial
cause without fulfilling the requirement to give mandatory notice to an employee on their
dismissal. However, the onus is on the employer to prove the just cause against the employer
The following can be said to the 3 grounds to prove just cause of misconduct;
• Dishonesty, that has destroyed the trust factor between an employee and employer
• Series of disobedience behavior by the employee towards the employer.
• Conflicts of interest which is affecting the interest of the company as well as the
employer (Carvalho, 2016).
Q2 AND Q3:
Employer's obligation under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA):
• Section 57 of the ESA makes it mandatory for employers to give one to eight weeks
of written notice to the potentially terminated employees.
• An employer is required to pay employee’s benefits during the statutory notice period.
• Sections 63 to 66 of the Act require employers to pay severance pay in a specific
situation.
• Employers are required to pay each dismissed employee’s outstanding wages,
vacation pay, termination and severance pay not later than seven days after the end of
the employment day or on the day which could have been regarded as a payday for
the employer if he or she has been retained in the job (Vosko, Noack & Tucker,
2016).

2EMPLOYMENTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
Employer's obligation under the Common Law:
 An employer is required to provide an adequate safe environment and further required
to comply with the guiding safety standard for the workplace relating to the health
safety of his or her employees.
 An employer needs to give at least one week of notice to the employee if he or she
was working with the employer for less than two years and in case the employee is
working for more than 2 years, then the employer is required to give notice at least
one week's notice for each year of continuous service
 An employer is required to conclude the full and final settlement on the final day of
the employee in the company in case of his or her termination (Cavico, Mujtaba &
Muffler, 2018).
Q4:
Constructive dismissal takes place in a situation when the employer makes a
constructive change in the employment term such as change of the location of the office or
changes in the compensation package, which induces the employee either to end the job or
put down their paper and claim for damages instead of reasonable notice or after rejecting the
new employment terms, sue the employer for constructive dismissal.
A constructively dismissed employee can further work under the same employer to
mitigate damages under the following conditions:
• The amount of salary in the new designation is the same as the old one,
• Working conditions are the same,
• The relationship between the employer and employee are not bitter. (Islam &
Rashi, 2017).

3EMPLOYMENTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
Q5:
 According to the Common Law principle, a former employee cannot disclose
confidential information such as; trade secrets and customer lists, which he or she
might have obtained during their employment with the previous employer. This duty
applies irrespective of the mode of ending of the previous employment of the
employee and applies to all levels of employees.
 Fiduciary employees have an additional post-employment obligation such as they
cannot join the previous employer’s client if they had a relationship with those clients
during employment or rivals in few cases (Dole 2019).
Reference:
Carvalho, S. D. (2016). Out-of-work conducts in social networks and the just cause to
dismissal: An analysis of Portuguese and Spanish case law.

4EMPLOYMENTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
Cavico, F. J., Mujtaba, B. G., & Muffler, S. (2018). The duty of loyalty in the employment
relationship: legal analysis and recommendations for employers and workers. Journal
of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues.
Dole Jr, R. F. (2019). LIMITATIONS UPON THE ENFORCEABILITY OF AN
EMPLOYEE'S COVENANT NOT TO DISCLOSE AND NOT TO USE
CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION WITHOUT
AUTHORIZATION. UCLA Journal of Law & Technology, 23(1).
Islam, K., & Rashi, M. (2017). An Overview of Constructive Dismissal: A Comparison
between Common Law and Malaysian Law. Journal of Policy and Development
Studies, 289(5385), 1-8.
Vosko, L. F., Noack, A. M., & Tucker, E. (2016). Employment standards enforcement: A
scan of employment standards complaints and workplace inspections and their
resolution under the Employment Standards Act, 2000.