(Good) Did He Quit? Has She Been Fired?

Two recent B.C. Supreme Court decisions serve as an important reminder that employers must be clear about the employment status of their employees, and that decisions as to whether an employee has quit or can be fired should not be made in the heat of the moment.

Although the two cases (full synopses here) had different outcomes, they share a similar pattern: a heated incident, followed by a series of actions that did not clearly demarcate the employment status of the employee in question. In one case, the court found that the employee had not in fact been terminated, while in the other it found that the employee clearly had.

This raises the following questions:
 
1) How does an employer know if an employee has resigned?  
2) How does an employee know if he or she has been fired?
 
The test for determining whether an employee’s words amount to a resignation is objective: What would a reasonable person understand from the statement in all of the surrounding circumstances? A resignation must be clear and unequivocal, clearly showing an intention to resign, or conduct from which that intention would clearly appear.

Further, this cannot be tainted by any actions that are ambiguous by either the employer or employee. A notice of termination must also be clearly communicated to the employee. Again, it is an objective test: what a reasonable person had been led to understand about the status of their employment.

The reminder to both employers and employees is plain: make sure that all communications respecting your intentions are made clearly and unequivocally. Sometimes, when emotions run high, people say things. When this happens, it is always best to wait until the cold light of day before any decisions are made either to terminate an employee or whether or to “accept” a purported resignation. If there is a dispute as to what occurred, you can be sure that a court will examine what was said and done objectively and dispassionately.