Dixon Inc was a small manufacturer of medical masks in Toronto. Elena was the chief engineer and in charge of the production line. Fatima was the head of sales and supervised a team of sales representatives. Fatima's responsibilities included driving throughout the province marketing Dixon Inc's products to medical practitioners and hospitals. Dixon Inc. provided a car allowance to Fatima as she used her own car.

The owner, Hector, decided to hire more staff because of increasing demands for medical masks.

• Irena's title was "junior sales consultant" and Irena received a fixed monthly salary of $3,000. Dixon Inc provided Irena with a laptop and a cell phone. Fatima gave instructions, such as hours of work and clients to call, to Irena on a daily basis. In a recent performance review, Fatima noted that Irena's performance was satisfactory. Irena's Agreement with Dixon Inc contained the following provision: "Dixon Inc may terminate this Agreement at any time and the junior sales consultant hereby revokes the right to any severance under the Employment Standards Act, 2000."
• Julie's title was "Chief Strategy Officer". Julie's responsibilities included finding efficiencies and cost-savings in Dixon Inc.

A) One sunny Friday in July, Fatima, having completed her sales meetings for the day, decided to take the afternoon off and went to play golf with her friends. On her way to the golf course, Fatima was driving into bright sunlight, and failed to see Mrs. Kim crossing the street, and struck her with the car. Mrs. Kim suffered numerous injuries from the accident. What are the rights and liabilities (if any) of Dixon Inc and Fatima? Assume that insurance does not apply in any way. (3 marks)

B) In August, Irena was asked to dinner by Hector to discuss her progress towards becoming a senior sales consultant. The dinner took place at a restaurant inside the Royal York Hotel. At the end of the dinner, Hector said that he would like to continue their conversation in a more private setting and told Irena that he had booked a hotel room. He told her that if the private meeting went well, she was sure to be promoted in September. Irena declined to follow Hector to his hotel room. The next morning Irena was informed that because of her poor performance she was being terminated immediately. She was also told that Dixon Inc would tell any prospective future employers that she was terminated for poor performance. Advise Irena of her rights and damages (if any) that she could potentially seek. (6 marks)

C) In September, Julie noticed that the production line needed to be shut down on a regular basis due to broken parts. After speaking to a number of workers, Julie realized Elena was busy designing a new car engine for her own consulting business during regular business hours and did not supervise Dixon Inc's junior engineers as required. Julie estimated Dixon Inc lost $30,000 due to frequent shutdowns of the production line. Did Julie have any legal basis to terminate Elena? (1 mark) Why or why not? (2 marks)