An employer must give written notice of termination unless the employee is being terminated for just cause. Just cause to terminate an employee usually results out of employee misconduct. The employer has the burden to prove that the misconduct was serious enough to justify termination.
Employees can also be terminated without cause. In this case, the employee must be provided with notice or pay in lieu of notice. The Saskatchewan Employment Act sets out the minimum notice periods for employees who have been employed for more than 13 weeks, however, the obligation for notice of termination does not stop at the statutory minimum as common law has established that employees should be provided with “reasonable notice” of termination. Reasonable notice is unique to each situation and will depend on factors such as the character of employment, the length of service, the age of employee, the availability of similar employment, and the employee’s training and qualifications.
