Wording of termination provisions in employment contracts can go a long way towards determining if they’re enforceable
Words are the voice of contracts. That voice guides a court during interpretation of a termination provision in an employment contract. A lesson from a recent case, Stevens v. Sifton Properties Ltd., suggests if the termination clause contains no explicit reference to continuation of benefits during the period of statutory notice, it will be struck as unenforceable. Thereby, exposing employers to the golden smelter of the reasonable notice doctrine, when calculating the dismissed employee’s entitlements.
