Page 33 - 2025 GBC spring English

THE CASE
On May 7, 2022, the Club hired S
to be its Golf Superintendent on a
verbal agreement to work “until
the end of the season.” S had
already been working for several
years at another club as its Golf
Superintendent, but once he got
the offer from the Club, he resigned
from that position.
Unfortunately, issues involving
the performance of S arose and
that led to some disagreements
between the parties. S also alleged
that after he started working, the
Club management asked him if his
wife was Catholic or Protestant,
and he replied “Neither”. (The
Club denied that this conversation
ever happened.)
Just one month after he was
hired, S was fired by the Club.
They gave him two weeks’ pay in
lieu of notice.
S then filed a dismissal lawsuit
against the Club. S claimed five
months pay for the remainder of the
season, moral damages, religious
discrimination and inducement
to leave secure employment. His
position was that because he was
fired mid-season, he had virtually
no chance of getting a new job
during the same season. He also
claimed moral damages because
of how he was terminated and for
religious discrimination, based
on the alleged question about
his spouse’s religion. He claimed
enticement, i.e., that he was lured
away from his previous job to work
for the Club.
The Club’s position was that
S’s brief tenure warranted minimal
notice and denied the alleged
misconduct and discrimination.
They argued they had just cause for
dismissal based on the complaints
from staff and his performance
issues. They also denied the alleged
question underlying the religious
discrimination claim and denied
that they acted in bad faith in the
manner of dismissal.
The judge ruled in favour of
S. The judge first held that this
was not a fixed term contract.
All employment contracts are
presumed to be indefinite unless
there is clear and unambiguous
evidence (such as a written
contract) that they are for a fixed
term only. The verbal statement by
management that S was there to
the end of the season did not meet
this test. The judge also held that
the Club never made any statement
that S would not be hired back the
following season. As such, the
judge found that the employment
contract between the Club and S
was seasonal yet indefinite, i.e.,
there was no fixed end date and no
confirmation that it was not going
to resume the next year.
On the just cause issue, the
judge held that the Club had not met
the high threshold for just cause at
common law. Although there were
complaints, the Club chose not to
warn S or engage in progressive
discipline, but instead went
directly to summary termination.
The judge held that, in summary
terminations (i.e., without first
warning the employee and giving
a chance to correct), there must be
“gross incompetence” to be just
cause.
Most interesting from the
judge, however, was awarding
S five months of common law
notice. The judge reasoned that
even though he had only worked
there one month, S was entitled
to wages for the remainder of
the season. Essentially, the judge
reasoned that even though he
only had one month of service,
his realistic chances of finding a
similar job at another club during
the same 2022 season – when all
such management positions had
been filled already – were very low.
However, the judge went
on to reject all of S’s other claims
aside from the claim for “moral”
damages. The judge rejected his
religious discrimination claim,
making no finding on whether
the alleged question happened.
The court also held that S was
not induced away from secure
employment. Regarding the claim
for “moral” damages, the judge
found that the Club went too far
in defending the case by launching
Golf Business Canada 33