The Ontario Court of Appeal set aside lower court’s reduction of damages in wrongful dismissal action for failure to mitigate. Lower court erred when it held that a dismissed employee must begin searching for a lesser-paying job after spending a reasonable period of time attempting to find similar employment. Evidence must support an inference that had the employee expanded the parameters of the job search, searched earlier, and applied for more positions, they would have had a significantly greater chance of obtaining a position.

In Lake v. La Presse, 2022 ONCA 742, the only issue on appeal was whether the lower court erred in reducing the employee’s wrongful dismissal damages for failure to mitigate. The Ontario Court of Appeal (OCA) set aside the lower court’s judgment in Lake v. La Presse (2018) Inc., 2021 ONSC, discussed here, as it found an error in the reduction of the reasonable notice period of eight months to six months for failure to mitigate.

Background Pertaining to the Mitigation Issue

The employee, general manager, age 52, was employed for 5.6 years when her employment was terminated without cause. The parties agreed the employee was entitled to reasonable notice.

Lower Court Decision re Mitigation of Damages

The lower court decided the reasonable notice period should be eight months; however, it reduced it to six months after deciding that, for the following reasons, the employee failed to take reasonable steps to mitigate her damages:

1. She waited...

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