A B.C. Supreme Court judgment worth $13,000 may be a lesson to employees not to utter expressions in haste — and to employers not to leap to conclusions.
The court has ordered an accounting firm to pay a former Prince George, B.C., resident slightly more than $13,000 in a wrongful dismissal suit after agreeing the plaintiff had not quit his job but rather was only telling his employer he was leaving for vacation.
It all began with confusion over what Rashid A. Balogun meant when he allegedly told his superiors "I'm out of here," during a meeting held in June 2006 as part of evaluating his performance after six months as a tax manager at the Deloitte & Touche office in Prince George.
The court heard Mr. Balogun had been seeking a raise to $100,000 from a starting salary of $64,000, but prior to the meeting was sent an email denying the request. He was also informed the matter might be reviewed in another six months if job performance issues were addressed.
The subsequent meeting was held just before Mr. Balogun was to begin a two-week vacation. Mr. Balogun was the only one in the office with expertise on U.S. tax filings and was told no one in the office was capable of evaluating his work, "and when he was asked what that meant for the future, the plaintiff replied `I'm out of here.' They took that as a statement that he was resigning," Justice Nathan Smith wrote in a reasons for judgment.
During testimony, Mr. Balogun, who no longer lives in Prince George, denied making the statement, "but said that if he used any word to that effect, he meant only that he was beginning his vacation and needed to leave for the airport."
When Mr. Balogun returned, he found at his apartment a copy of his employment record, which employers must file when employment ends. The reason for leaving was reported as the employee quitting.
Mr. Balogun told the court his initial application for employment insurance was denied on the basis that his record said he had quit, but Service Canada subsequently accepted his appeal and provided benefits.
Smith found his superiors failed to confirm Mr. Balogun's resignation.
"I find that the plaintiff likely did say something to the effect `I'm out of here,' but in the circumstances, that statement was ambiguous and not a clear statement of an intention to resign," Smith wrote.
The fact that Mr. Balogun turned in his computer and keys as requested upon receiving the employment record was not enough, Smith found.
"In hindsight, the plaintiff [...] should perhaps have realized that this request was not consistent and [...] have asked why it was necessary," Smith wrote. "However, I cannot fault him for failing to fully consider the implications of that request, given the emotional and somewhat angry circumstances and the fact that he was in a hurry to get to the airport."
Mr. Balogun was awarded $10,667 for two months salary in lieu of notice and $2,517.29 for unpaid overtime in the ruling issued by the court earlier this month.