PM41261516
Emplo
y
ment Law Today
Canadian
www.employmentlawtoday.com
B.C. worker driven to leave PG. 4
Unfair investigation and allegations
of cause lead to $45,000 in unjust
dismissal and aggravated damages
for mentally ill worker
Optometrist sees red
over employee's behaviour
Former owner of practice allowed to remove items not included in sale,
but lack of notice and rude behaviour terminated employment contract
BY JEFFREY R. SMITH
AN ONTARIO optometrist who sold his practice and
continued to work under a fixed-term contract pro-
vided just cause for termination with insubordinate
and unprofessional behaviour, the Ontario Superior
Court of Justice has ruled.
Steven Frohlich was a licensed optometrist who sold
his Toronto practice to Yunfan Zhang in November
2015. As part of the agreement of purchase and sale
(APS), Frohlich received money as well as a one-year
employment contract running from Dec. 23, 2015
to Dec. 22, 2016. The APS also listed several items
of equipment and property that Zhang could keep
with the practice — including specialized optometric
equipment and stated that Frohlich was "to leave
on the premises all chattels, fixtures, equipment
and leasehold improvements and additional items
specified in the APS herein..."
A few months later, Zhang installed closed-circuit
security cameras in the office.
In late spring 2016, Frohlich and his wife removed
Another failed attempt
to enforce restrictive covenants
Ontario executive misled former employer when he left, but restrictive
covenants covered industry knowledge and customers too broadly
BY NIVEDA ANANDAN
EVERY EMPLOYER fears the moment that a
high-level executive departs for a competitor.
With such exits in mind, employers frequently
rely upon restrictive covenants to protect their
business interests. However, as affirmed by the
Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Camino
Modular Systems Inc. v. Kranidis, broad and
overly restrictive covenants that protect more
than an employer's proprietary interests may
not be the answer.
Antonios Kranidis worked for Camino
Modular Systems and Global Integrated Floor
-
ing Solutions (collectively Global IFS) from
January 2015 until he resigned four and one-
half years later. At the time of his resignation,
February 12, 2020
Cannabis in the workplace PG.3
What employers and employees
need to know to keep workplaces
safe and productive in the age of
legal cannabis
NO OWNERSHIP on page 6 »
CREDIT:
G.TBOV
SHUTTERSTOCK
CONDUCT on page 7 »
with Brian Johnston
Ask an Expert PG. 2
Vacation pay and
termination pay