Fired Probationary Employee Can’t Prove Wrongful Dismissal

Terminating for cause is much harder for an employer to justify than rejecting a probationary employee for lack of suitability. Accordingly, an employee who got rejected after finishing probation claimed the rejection was a disciplinary termination in disguise. They fired me not because I was unsuitable but because I blew the whistle on certain co-workers and a supervisor. It was a close case with evidence supporting both versions of the story. But because the employee had the burden of proof, he lost. The employee didn’t meet “his heavy burden to demonstrate that the rejection was based on a cause other than a bona fide dissatisfaction as to suitability,” according to the court [Schaer v. Yukon (Government of), 2018 YKSC 46 (CanLII), Oct. 5, 2018].