A recent decision from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has upheld the enforceability of a termination clause which contained the phrase “at any time”. The clause limited the employee’s entitlement at termination to one week of salary and benefits – the employee’s minimum entitlements under the Employment Standard Act, 2000 (the “ESA”).
Significantly, this is the first decision to uphold the enforceability of a termination clause containing “at any time” after the Court of Appeal for Ontario held in Dufault v The Corporation of the Township of Ignace (“Dufault”) that a termination clause containing “at any time” violated the ESA. We have previously discussed the Dufault decision in our previous Insight (available here) and the subsequent decision in Baker v. Van Dolder’s Home Team (“Baker”) that followed the reasoning of Dufault in our previous Insight (available here).
In Li v Wayfair Canada Inc., 2025 ONSC 2959 (“Li”), the plaintiff’s employment was terminated on a without cause basis. The plaintiff has signed an employment agreement that contained a termination provision which limited any amounts owing to the plaintiff to only those available under the ESA. Relying on this provision, the employer provided the plaintiff, who had just under nine months of service, with one week of his base salary and benefits.
The termination clause read, in part:
The Company may terminate your employment at any time for Cause without notice, pay in lieu of notice,...
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