George Brown College Business Law Assignment - Final Exam Winter 2020

This document presents a comprehensive business law assignment solution, addressing five key questions. The first question defines fiduciary duty in business partnerships, emphasizing the importance of trustworthiness and full disclosure. The second question analyzes partner liability under the Partnership Act 1990 when a firm incurs losses due to a partner's mistake, highlighting the fiduciary duty of disclosing business transactions. The third question examines the liability of an employer for an employee's unauthorized actions, referencing the case of Boulton vs. Jones and the risks associated with sole proprietorships. The fourth question addresses employee termination, notice periods, and severance pay under the Employment Standards Act 2000, and discusses the concept of 'just cause' termination. Finally, the fifth question determines the status of a consultant as an independent contractor, referencing the case of Short vs. Henderson 1946. The assignment demonstrates an understanding of key legal concepts relevant to business operations and employment relationships.

Running head: BUSINESS LAW ASSIGNMENT
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BUSINESS LAW ASSIGNMENT
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author’s note:

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Question 1
Fiduciary duty has consisted of an obligation or responsibility to act for the best interest
or benefit for the other parties. An individual who is performing within a fiduciary capacity then
he should hold an extraordinary standard of trustworthiness, as well as full disclosure with honor
to any other person (Kornelsen et at., 2015). In partnership businesses, the partners should have
possessed the duties of trustworthiness, which is known as a fiduciary duty. This duty has been
depending on the types of partnership business, as well as the nature of the role of a partner in
that partnership. At the time of operating any limited or general partnership, the partners should
have a trust, as well as rely upon the other partners who are managing that partnership for
promoting the success of the business and the best benefit or interest of that partnership (Cohn,
2019). The partners should act with fairness and show their good faith in such a partnership
interaction. Duty of loyalty has been required to the relevance of partners for placing interests, as
well as success for their partnership. It is also necessary to constitute a fiduciary relationship that
has required duty of disclosure to the other partner anything, which is suitable to promote their
businesses.
Question 2
I. In this given scenario, a partner in a partnership firm has left that firm with prior notice.
Other partners have purchased his interests; however, it has been discovered that their
client has lost a significant of money for another partner’s mistake. Section 10 of the
Partnership Act 1990 has dealt with the liability of any partner in a partnership firm.
All the partners in this firm, such as Shah himself, as well as his partners Amaro, and

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Brown will be liable for such losses. According to section 18 (1) of the Act, Singh will
also be liable for such loss.
II. Any partner should disclose any fact or business transaction to all of his partners. It is
one of the fiduciary duties in a partnership firm or business. The other partners should
be kept into knowledge regarding the business of that firm. All the partners should be
concerned regarding the account books of that firm, as it is an accounting firm. These
precautions should be taken to prevent this type of liabilities of the partners of any
partnership firm.
Question 3
i. In the given scenario, an assistant manager, Ragini, has ordered fiddleheads to a producer
on behalf of his employer, Srini. She has a limited authority to act on behalf of Srini. The
issue has arisen whether Srini is bound to pay and accept that fiddleheads. Ragini is not
authorized to make any such contract with any other person on behalf of her employer. In
the case of Boulton vs. Jones 1857, it has strictly mentioned that the offer should be
accepted only by the offeree and not any other person. Applying this judgment of this
case, the employer, Srini, will not be liable for such a contract of her employee Ragini, as
she does not have any knowledge regarding such a contract.
ii. The owners of any sole proprietorship business may face several risks such as liability
risk, contractor default, any default on the part of their employees, and many others
(MacDonald et al., 2019). In this scenario, a risk has arisen for an unauthorized act of an
employee. To avoid such a situation, the employer should make a clause of such liability

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in the employment contract. The employee should follow his or her employment contract
to avoid such risk.
Question 4
a. Section 57 of the Employment Standards Act 2000 has described the notice periods in
accordance with the various periods of employment of an employee. In this given
scenario, Robert, an employee of Suzanne, has been working in her restaurant for almost
seven and a half years. For the termination from his job Suzanne has to provide a
termination notice At least 7 (seven) weeks before such termination. It has described in
section 57 (g) of the Act. If she does not provide any notice period, then she has to pay
Robert’s salary for that termination period in accordance with section 60 of this Act.
b. Robert is entitled to get severance pay, as according to section 64 of the Act, an employer
of an employee should pay severance pay if that employee has been working there for
more than five years. Robert has worked there for more than seven years. Therefore,
Suzanne is responsible for providing severance pay to Robert for permanent termination
from the job.
c. To show a ‘just cause’ termination under common law, the employer should provide the
proof that there is the wrongdoing of his employee (Kolawole, & Ogunseye, 2018). This
wrongdoing includes theft, sexual harassment, disobedience, and many others. In this
scenario, the restaurant owner can take a justification of the disobedience of Robert for
just cause termination.
d. To avoid lawsuits, Suzanne can offer a package to Robert. The factors which she takes
into consideration are discussed here. Firstly, she can provide a notice period with full

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payment for at least seven weeks. Secondly, she should provide severance pay to him.
And thirdly, she should pay a reasonable amount of annual payroll to him.
Question 5
In the given scenario, Miss Kachur has made a contract with Sigma corporation for a
short-term consultancy. In question, the second (b.) statement is true that Miss Kachur will be
considered as an independent contractor in relation to that company. In the case of Short vs.
Henderson1946, it has decided that the employee will be a person if he is controlled by another
person. Therefore, as the company has no power to control Miss Kachur, then she will be
considered as an independent contractor.

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References
Boulton v Jones (1857) 2 H & N 564
Cohn, S. R. (2019). The Shifting Sands of Conflict of Interest Standards: The Duty of Loyalty
Meets the Real World with Questions of Process and Fairness.
Employment Standards Act 2000
Kolawole, I. O., & Ogunseye, O. (2018). Termination of Contract of Employment with Statutory
Flavour and the Remedy of Re-Instatement: Curtailing Summary and Unlawful
Dismissal. JL Pol'y & Globalization, 75, 94.
Kornelsen, D., Boyer, Y., Lavoie, J., & Dwyer, J. (2015). Reciprocal accountability and
fiduciary duty: Implications for indigenous health in Canada, New Zealand and
Australia. AILR, 19, 17.
MacDonald, A., Clarke, A., Huang, L., & Seitanidi, M. (2019). Partner strategic capabilities for
capturing value from sustainability-focused multi-stakeholder
partnerships. Sustainability, 11(3), 557.
Partnerships Act, R.S.O. 1990
SHORT v. J. & W. HENDERSON, LTD. (1945) 79 Ll.L.Rep. 271