Les deux types de congédiement déguisé

par Karim Renno
Renno Vathilakis Inc.

Court billet ce matin pour discuter de congédiement déguisé. En effet, nous attirons votre attention sur la décision récente rendue par l'Honorable juge Mark Phillips dans l'affaire Salvaggio c. Rainy Day Investments Ltd. (2021 QCCS 3796) où celui-ci discute des deux types de congédiement déguisé.

Dans cette affaire, le Demandeur intente un recours en dommages dans lequel il allègue congédiement déguisé et demande un préavis de terminaison d'une durée de 12 mois. 

Pour nos fins, la trame factuelle importe peu. Ce qui nous intéresse c'est la synthèse que le juge Phillips fait des deux types de congédiement déguisés en droit québécois:

[63] An employer can of course formally dismiss an employee, who may then have a recourse of one sort or another depending on the circumstances, normally for monetary indemnification in lieu of notice of termination. An employer may also, without formally dismissing the employee, act in such a way as to evince an intention not to be bound by the employment contract. Most often, this takes the form of changes, unilaterally imposed by the employer, to the essential terms of the contract, notably with respect to the employee’s duties or remuneration. 

[64] Faced with such a change, the employee has the choice of either accepting it or, alternatively, treating it as a repudiation of the contract by the employer and suing for wrongful dismissal. Since the employee has not been dismissed formally, the “dismissal” in such circumstances is dubbed “constructive.” 

[65] If he chooses the latter course of action, the employee will bear the burden of establishing that he has indeed been constructively dismissed. If he fails to discharge that burden, then he will be viewed as having simply resigned, which will normally leave him without any remedy of any kind. 

[66] There are two distinct ways in which a constructive dismissal claim can be run, depending on the circumstances. The Supreme Court of Canada speaks of two “branches.” 

[67] The first way applies where the employer has committed a discrete breach of the contract. This is often the case where the employer makes a unilateral change to the employee’s compensation or work assignments. The second way occurs in a different type of situation: it flows not from a single, discrete breach, but rather from a series of acts by the employer which, taken together, show that the employer no longer intends to be bound by the contract. 

Référence : [2021] ABD 379