Court held employer was entitled to two months’ notice of employee’s resignation and was entitled to $35,164 in damages

Gagnon & Associates Inc. v. Jesso
2016 CarswellOnt 233, 2016 ONSC 209, 262 A.C.W.S. (3d) 662
Ontario Superior Court of Justice

Labour and employment law --- Employment law — Elements of employment relationship — Duties of employee to employer — Use of confidential information

Ruling was made on whether employer was entitled to damages — Employer was entitled to $35,164 — J gave no notice, and notice of two months would have been appropriate — J was senior employee with 10 years' experience and was responsible for significant percentage of employer's sales; additionally, J knew C was other senior sales person who would be leaving with BJ on same day putting employer in difficult position — Market for experienced HVAC salespeople was limited and replacement hire took time — J was entitled to seek other employment and to undertake preparations to compete with employer, and there was no suggestion that any of J's activities were undertaken during his hours of employment with employer — Damages did not result from breach of contractual requirement of confidentiality — Evidence did not establish that disclosure of gross sales figures or chiller sales was influential factor in decision of HTS Ltd. to open competing office — Gross sales figures for employer and number of chillers it had quoted were private and confidential and should not have been disclosed by J — Balance of information did not attract confidentiality.