{"id":16616,"date":"2016-05-10T10:28:44","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T15:28:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rsslex.com\/publications\/walking-out-without-notice-can-be-costly\/"},"modified":"2022-03-14T19:37:06","modified_gmt":"2022-03-14T23:37:06","slug":"20160510_walking-out-without-notice-can-be-costly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.staging.rsslex.com\/en\/bulletins-en\/20160510_walking-out-without-notice-can-be-costly\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking out without notice can be costly"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is fairly well known that, under art. 2091<\/a> of the Civil Code of Qu\u00e9bec<\/i>, an employer must give reasonable notice when terminating an employee without a serious reason. Too often, however, we forget that this article imposes a similar obligation upon an employee who resigns without a serious reason.<\/p>\n

A recent decision reminds that \u201cthe legal obligation to give notice applies to the resigning employee as it does to the employer who terminates the employee\u201d [Pharmacie Jean-S\u00e9bastien Blais inc. c. Pharmacie \u00c9ric Bergeron et Andr\u00e9 Vincent inc.<\/i>, 2016 QCCS 1306<\/a>, par. 54; our translations].<\/p>\n

According to the Court, \u201cthe notice is meant to give the employer enough time to hire and train someone to replace the employee who resigns, or to adapt his operations to the absence of the employee\u201d [par. 55].<\/p>\n

Failure to give reasonable notice can cause the employer damages that the employee could have to compensate. In such a case, the employer has a right to damages calculated \u201cin light of all the facts, the duration of the employment, the employee\u2019s importance in the business operations, his salary and work conditions, and the circumstances of his departure\u201d [par. 73].<\/p>\n

In this case, the employee was condemned to pay his former employer compensation for $12,000, representing two months\u2019 salary.<\/p>\n

A few examples<\/h2>\n

For reasons that are easy to guess, resigning employees are rarely sued and held to pay damages for failure to give reasonable notice. Still, case law does provide some examples of awards payable to ex-employers:<\/p>\n