Canadian Law of Work Forum (CLWF)
  • Home
  • About
    • Professor David Doorey
  • Guest Contributors
  • Useful Links
    • Archive
  • Submissions
  • Student Blog Initiative
  • Home
  • About
    • Professor David Doorey
  • Guest Contributors
  • Useful Links
    • Archive
  • Submissions
  • Student Blog Initiative
Canadian Law of Work Forum (CLWF)
Law of Work Archive

Wal-Mart Fires Security Guard for Catching Thief

by David Doorey November 4, 2009
written by David Doorey November 4, 2009

Since we are talking about dismissal for cause in my employment law course this week, I’d thought I’d note an American incident involving that bastion of progressive employment practices, Wal-Mart.
Security guard Josh Rutner saw a man walk out of the store with a box of golf balls and told him to stop, but the thief ran away.  Rutner and another guard then chased  down the thief in the parking lot and were surprised when the thief brandished a knife and swiped at them.  The two guards were nevertheless able to take down the man and hold him until police arrived.  The thief was arrested.  The next day, Rutner was fired by Wal-Mart for breaching a ‘no chase’ policy.  And if being dismissed for catching a thief is not bad enough, Wal-Mart went further and told Rutner he could never be hired by Wal-Mart again because his offense was unforgivable.
This is an American case, where generally employers can dismiss employees at any time, with no notice and with no reason under the ‘at will’ model of employment.  Could a Canadian Wal-Mart store dismiss a security guard for ’cause’ (without notice) for chasing a thief into the parking lot in violation of a company policy?  Maybe, if the policy was a term of his employment contract that the employee was made aware of, and the company consistently enforced the policy as a ‘zero tolerance’ offense.  In Canada, the question would be whether the employee’s breach of the contract ws sufficiently serious to warrant the employee forfeiting their entitlement to notice of the termination–in other words, did the employer have ’cause’ to summarily dismiss the employee?
Sometimes, Canadian judges have refused to find cause when an employee breaches a company rule, particularly if the rule was not made clear to the employee and there is some ambiguity in how it has been enforced.  In addition, if the employee can put forward a ‘reasonable excuse’ for the conduct, judges have sometimes sided with the employee, found no cause, and ordered reasonable notice damages be paid.
In the Wal-Mart case, the security guard said (to reporters and the employer, I assume), that everything happened fast and once the guy pulled a knife, he felt that he posed a risk to the public that he should try to address.  Do you think that should be considered a reasonable excuse for breaching a no chase rule?
Nice to know, by the way, that if I steal from Wal-Mart, that no one will be chasing me …

4 comments
0
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail
David Doorey

Professor Doorey is an Associate Professor of Work Law and Industrial Relations at York University. He is the Director of the School of HRM at York and Director of Osgoode Hall Law School’s executive LLM Program in Labour and Employment Law and on the Advisory Board of the Osgoode Certificate program in Labour Law. He is a Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program and a member of the International Advisory Committee on Harvard University’s Clean Slate Project, which is re-imaging labor law for the 21st century

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

previous post
Congrats to Marie-Helene Budworth
next post
Top 100 Employment Law Blogs!

You may also like

A Cross Country Update on the Card-Check versus...

October 3, 2018

A Successful Strike Vote is All That Stands...

September 16, 2018

Unifor Posts Photos of Replacement Workers as Gander...

September 10, 2018

A Wrongful Dismissal Case and the Absence of...

August 29, 2018

China Said to Quickly Withdraw Approval for New...

August 27, 2018

The Latest Hot E-Commerce Idea in China: The...

August 27, 2018

The Trump Administration Just Did Something Unambiguously Good...

August 27, 2018

Unstable Situations Require Police In Riot Gear Face...

August 27, 2018

Trump’s War on the Justice System Threatens to...

August 27, 2018

Putin Invites Trump to Moscow for Second Meeting...

August 27, 2018

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 218 other subscribers

Follow Us On Social Media

Twitter

Latest Tweets

CLWFFollow

CLWF
Retweet on TwitterCLWF Retweeted
CanLawWorkForumCLWF@CanLawWorkForum·
19 Feb

Tenants have associations, but landlords can't just ignore them. Is Landlord Tenant Law the next frontier in Freedom of Association litigation?

@TheLawofWork considers:

“The Striking Absence of Freedom of Association in Landlord and Tenant Law”

https://lawofwork.ca/the-striking-absence-of-freedom-of-association-in-landlord-and-tenant-law/

Reply on Twitter 1362821027458334724Retweet on Twitter 13628210274583347243Like on Twitter 13628210274583347244Twitter 1362821027458334724
CanLawWorkForumCLWF@CanLawWorkForum·
19 Feb

Tenants have associations, but landlords can't just ignore them. Is Landlord Tenant Law the next frontier in Freedom of Association litigation?

@TheLawofWork considers:

“The Striking Absence of Freedom of Association in Landlord and Tenant Law”

https://lawofwork.ca/the-striking-absence-of-freedom-of-association-in-landlord-and-tenant-law/

Reply on Twitter 1362821027458334724Retweet on Twitter 13628210274583347243Like on Twitter 13628210274583347244Twitter 1362821027458334724
CanLawWorkForumCLWF@CanLawWorkForum·
15 Feb

New post from @TheLawofWork examining unfair labor practice complaint filed by UFCW vs @Uber in Toronto, complaint attached. Thanks to @WrightHenryLLP for permission to post:

"Real Pleadings: Has Uber Created a New Service to Avoid Unionization?"

https://lawofwork.ca/uberblackulp/

Reply on Twitter 1361345482510000131Retweet on Twitter 1361345482510000131Like on Twitter 1361345482510000131Twitter 1361345482510000131
Load More...

Categories

  • Alberta
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Australia
  • British Columbia
  • Charter of Rights and Freedoms
  • Childcare
  • Class Action
  • Collective Bargaining
  • Common Law of Employment
  • Comparative Work Law
  • competition law
  • construction
  • COVID-19
  • Diversity
  • Employee Classification
  • Employment Insurance
  • Employment Regulation
  • Europe
  • Financial Industry
  • Fissured Work
  • Freedom of Association
  • frustration of contract
  • Gig Work
  • Health and Safety
  • Health Care
  • Human Rights
  • Immigration
  • Interest Arbitration
  • International Law
  • Labour Arbitration
  • Labour Economics
  • Law of Work Archive
  • Legal Profession
  • Manitoba
  • Migrant Workers
  • Minimum Wage
  • Nova Scotia
  • OLRB
  • Ontario
  • Pension Bankruptcy
  • Privacy
  • Public Sector
  • Quebec
  • Real Life Pleadings
  • Saskatchewan
  • Scholarship
  • Strikes and Lockouts
  • Student Post
  • Supreme Court of Canada
  • technology
  • Transnational Law
  • Uncategorized
  • Unions and Collective Bargaining
  • United States
  • Videos
  • Women and Work
  • Wrongful Dismissal
  • Home
  • About
  • Guest Contributors
Menu
  • Home
  • About
  • Guest Contributors
  • Legal Scholarship
  • Useful Links
  • Archive
Menu
  • Legal Scholarship
  • Useful Links
  • Archive

2020. Canadian Law of Work Forum. All Rights Reserved.