Case information

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Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Employment law – Unjust dismissal – Whether employee’s alleged breach of employer’s policy on accessing confidential documents constituted just cause for dismissal – Whether the Court of Appeal judgment alters McKinley v. BC Tel, 2001 SCC 38, [2001] 2 S.C.R. 161 and creates a lower, or truncated, legal standard to establish just cause where the employment involves an industry requiring heightened trust such as financial and banking services – Whether the Judgment raises issues of national or public importance affecting the rights of Canadian employees and employers thereby warranting leave to appeal.

The applicant was a Helpdesk analyst in the IT Department of the respondent. She was dismissed “with cause” after 21 years of employment with the respondent when she was found to have accessed a confidential document in another employee’s personal folder without permission, contrary to company policies and protocol. The document was a spreadsheet designating priorities for the limited employee parking spaces available and contained information such as pay grades and seniority dates. The applicant did not yet have a parking spot and was affected by the list. She claimed that she accessed the document to get information she knew her manager needed, although he did not ask her to get it. The respondent’s termination letter stated that the severity of the breach of trust had led it “to lose faith in your judgment” and “resulted in a serious loss of confidence” in her which had “irreparably damaged the employment relationship”. The applicant claims that while she opened the document without permission, it constituted a single lapse of judgment which did not amount to just cause for dismissal. She brought an action in damages for wrongful dismissal, and a motion for summary judgment. The respondent supported the motion for summary judgment, seeking dismissal of the action.

The Supreme Court of British Columbia granted summary judgment and held that the applicant’s conduct constituted cause for dismissal. Her action for wrongful dismissal was dismissed. The Court of Appeal for British Columbia dismissed her appeal, with Donald J.A. dissenting.