Review two cases from the Supreme Court of Canada that deal with reasonable notice in the employment law context. I suggest Machtinger v. HOJ Industries Ltd., 1992 CanLII 102 (SCC), [1992] 1 SCR 986, and Wallace v. United Grain Growers Ltd., 1997 CanLII 332 (SCC), [1997] 3 SCR 701, . As discussed in class, one available website to search is found at:

www.canlii.org/en

Search parameters have been reviewed in class, but you may want to consider "reasonable notice", "termination" and "employment".

1. For each case, please briefly summarize the relevant facts. Pay particular attention to the facts regarding:

• express and implied terms of employment contracts, and
• any termination conditions found in any relevant employment contract.

2. Before reaching the Supreme Court, there will have been both a decision of the trial court and another decision from the Court of Appeal. Understanding this history will provide a better context for the Supreme Court decision. For this reason, please indicate the outcome and brief reasons of both:

• the trial decision and
• the relevant Court of Appeal decision.

3. For each case, identify the specific issues or questions put before the Supreme Court.

4. The Supreme Court of Canada is composed of nine justices. For each of the decisions, how many justices voted in favour of the judgment (the majority decision) and how many were in dissent?

5. In each of the cases, how did the Supreme Court define "reasonable notice"?

6. As a general rule, what is the role of "reasonable notice" when a worker is a union member and covered by a collective bargaining agreement?

7. What factors did the Supreme Court say must be considered to determine whether length of notice was reasonable?

8. An employee is employed under a 2-year fixed term employment contract that does not provide for early termination without cause. The employee is terminated after 1 year without cause. Is the employee entitled to payment of the unexpired portion of the contract on early termination of the contract? Why? See Howard v. Benson Group Inc. (The Benson Group Inc.), 2016 ONCA 256 (CanLII), .