Laid Off Seasonal Employees Don’t Get Collective, but Do Get Individual Notice

A group of 12 seasonal employees sued a golf club for laying them off without paying the notice required for collective dismissal under the Labour Standards Act. The court concluded that LSA collective dismissal rules don’t apply to seasonal employment and dismissed the case. The employees appealed and the case reached the Québec Court of Appeal. The high court upheld the lower court ruling. But the employees got the last laugh when the court went on to rule that the golf club didn’t provide them the required 1 to 8 weeks of individual notice required by the LSA. After tallying up the notice to which each employee was entitled, the court socked the club with an $11,595 damages award [CNESST v. Immeubles des Moulins inc., 2021 QCCA 89 (CanLII), January 21, 2021].