Case information

Contracts — Contract of employment — Termination of employment — Guarantee of employment for life — Application for reinstatement — In Quebec civil law, how courts must apply notion of “cases which admit of it”, under art. 1601 C.C.Q., when employee applies for their reinstatement as specific performance of contract of employment — Civil Code of Québec, art. 1601.

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.

The applicant, André Gloutnay, brought a proceeding against Gilbert Rozon, Gestion Juste Pour Rire Inc. and other legal persons related to the group after his employment was terminated. He considers himself to benefit from a guarantee of employment for life because of an agreement signed in April 2004 whereby Mr. Rozon promised that he would, through his companies, provide him with permanent employment for life. Mr. Gloutnay therefore sought his reinstatement, payment for lost wages and damages.

The Superior Court found that Mr. Gloutnay benefitted from a contract for life with Gestion Juste Pour Rire Inc. It therefore ordered Gestion Juste Pour Rire Inc. to reinstate Mr. Gloutnay in his former job. The judge found, among other things, that the intuitu personae nature of the contract of employment that is sometimes invoked against a reinstatement did not play a role in this case because the employer clearly had no hostility toward Mr. Gloutnay. The Court of Appeal allowed Gestion Juste Pour Rire Inc.’s appeal in part and struck the conclusions pertaining to the reinstatement order and instead ordered Gestion Juste Pour Rire Inc. to pay Mr. Gloutnay an indemnity of $666,500. Unlike the Superior Court, the Court of Appeal was of the opinion that the intuitu personae nature of Mr. Gloutnay’s contract of employment precluded his reinstatement.