Can I commence a legal action against my employer for wrongful dismissal while still working? Must I wait to sue for damages?
British Columbia employees owes their employer a duty of good faith and loyalty. This duty exists regardless of the sort of job involved, and is an implied term that our law places into employment agreements. Several decisions have found that if an employee commences a legal action against his or her employee, the employee has breach the duty of good faith and loyalty, and the employer would then be able to terminate the employment lawfully. The employee would be seen as having given “just cause” for termination by his or her act of commencing legal proceedings. However, there are limited circumstances where an employee could start a claim and not be seen as having breached a duty of good faith and loyalty. Examples might (depending on the circumstances) be where the employee’s claim is for amounts due to the employee for wages, commissions or bonus. The action might be framed as a claim not for damages but for “directions” where the court is asked to interpret the parties respective l
