Originally published on Slaw.

In an unusual case, a plaintiff nearly lost out on $8,000 in damages simply because she got to trial too fast.

The plaintiff’s employment with the defendant was terminated due to downsizing after 14 years of service.

She was paid approximately four months compensation in lieu of reasonable notice. She felt like it was not enough and sued the company for 22 months of compensation.

Justice Pollak agreed with the plaintiff that four months was not sufficient compensation and awarded the plaintiff twelve months of compensation.

However, at the time that the case was tried it had only been ten months since the plaintiff’s employment had been terminated. The defendant argued that the plaintiff ought not to receive the additional two months compensation as she was under a duty to mitigate and there was no telling whether or not she might become gainfully employed immediately after the trial.

It appears that Justice Pollak nearly agreed. However, in the end Justice Pollak ordered that the two months of compensation be paid, but only after twelve months had lapsed since the termination and only in the event that the plaintiff had not mitigated her damages by obtaining employment elsewhere.

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