Locked-out executive wins $300,000 after court rejects 'abandonment' claim
An executive was locked out of his email, left off the invite list and then accused of walking away from his own job. An Alberta court ruled the company had fired him, and a later contract rewrite could not shrink what it owed him.
The decision, dated July 30, 2026, and delivered orally on July 10, came from Justice P. Banks of the Court of King's Bench of Alberta. The court rejected the company's arguments that its chief scientific officer had resigned, abandoned his job, or been fired for cause, and found that Newly Institute Inc. dismissed him without cause in July 2022, entitling him to a $300,000 termination payment, less applicable statutory deductions and plus applicable interest.
The dispute unfolded during a stretch of restructuring at Newly Institute Inc. in July 2022. The company placed its chief scientific officer on a paid temporary suspension on July 12 and cut his system access, then restored it the same day. Two days later he met the chief executive at a Calgary club to relay concerns from departing staff, and soon after his email access was cut a second time, he was left out of a company townhall, and a promised Monday follow-up never came.
The employer maintained it had never terminated him, saying he had resigned or abandoned the role. Justice Banks applied an objective test, asking whether a reasonable person in the circumstances would...
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