Employees can be dismissed for cause, and therefore without notice or severance, when their misconduct or performance is so egregious that the employment relationship has been irreparably harmed. In assessing this issue, employers must adopt a contextual approach, which considers not only the misconduct in question, but the entirety of the employment relationship.

I’ve discussed the Privacy by Design principle before, in the Inside Internal Control newsletter. In case you don’t know, PbD is an approach developed by Dr. Ann Cavoukian, the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, which proactively embeds privacy protection by default in the design of an organization’s practices and products.

This year’s Ontario Employment Law Conference co-sponsored by First Reference and Stringer Brisbin Humphrey on June 2, 2010, will touch on several topics of importance to employers. The first topic on the Agenda will provide employers with guidance on a significant court decision and changes in court procedures affecting the termination process. Specifically it should help employers minimize claims arising from the termination process.