Mike Smith has owned and operated a restaurant for the last 10 years.  After the outbreak of Covid 19, he is no longer able to open his dining room to serve food to his customers for an indeterminate amount of time. Customers of his restaurant have always been able to order takeout food over the phone or online.  To date, Mike has never bothered to incorporate his restaurant (named “Super Delicious Dinner”).

 Mike has decided he is no longer able to keep some of his employees due to the forced shutdown.

1) Mike has decided to terminate his manager who has been working at the restaurant for 10 years.

2) Mike has also decided to terminate his chef because he has caught him stealing from the cash register.

3) Finally, Mike’s dishwasher, Steve, has quit because Mike reduced the number of shifts per week from 6 days per week to 2 days per week. Steve has informed Mike that he will sue him for wrongful dismissal, but Mike feels that because Steve quit, he is not entitled to any money.

Discuss what Mike’s obligations are with respect to these employees. 

Mike is not sure what to do.  His rent is $3,000 a month and has 4 years remaining on his lease with his landlord.  He is thinking about closing his restaurant for good but is also contemplating carrying on with his takeout business hoping the pandemic will end soon and he can go back to running his restaurant in a normal way with his dining room full of customers. He is also aware that once Toronto adopts “The Red Zone”, he will be able to partially open his dining room.

Mike has also noticed that last month another restaurant just opened down the street with the name “Delicious Dinner” and Mike feels that the restaurant is stealing his customers using a similar name.

Discuss the legal issues of both staying open and closing the restaurant permanently.  Discuss Mike’s personal liability with respect to both openings and closing the restaurant.  Also, address any legal issues regarding the restaurant located down the street with a similar name.

Try to include employment law, tort law, forms of business law, and Intellectual property in your assignment.