This story describes how a Tim Horton’s employee, who is also a single mother, was fired for giving a 16 cent timbit to an infant. The story doesn’t say whether the employer gave the employee notice, or whether they have treated this as cause for summary dismissal without notice. What do you think about this? Should the employer be entitled to dismiss the employee for this conduct? Consider these facts in light of the McKinley decision of the Supreme Court ([2001], 2 S.C.R. 161.It’s pretty clear to me that this dismissal would not meet a standard of “just cause” in a unionized environment (unless the employee had a bad disciplinary record). Should non-union employees have so much less protection from dismissal than unionized employees? Should it matter that the employee is a single mother?
David Doorey
Professor Doorey is a Full Professor of Work Law and Labour Relations at York University. He is Academic Director of Osgoode Hall Law School’s executive LLM Program in Labour and Employment Law and a Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program. Professor Doorey is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School (LL.B., Ph.D), London School of Economics (LLM Labour Law), and the University of Toronto (B.A., M.I.R.).
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