The Court of Appeal for Ontario has upheld a lower court ruling, which found that pension giant, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (OTPP), must pay David Tay Der Lin, a former employee and senior investment banker, $1-million in a wrongful dismissal suit.
In a 2015 decision, a lower court ruled that Lin was terminated without legal cause and it ordered a little more than $1 million in damages, including amounts that he would have earned under the short-term and long-term incentive plans with the OTPP.
On appeal, the pension giant argued that the trial judge erred in finding that Lin was terminated without cause. It said that he was let go for violating its code of conduct when he emailed a copy of a private placement memorandum to a friend. The OTPP argued that, contrary to the trial judge’s view, if its code of conduct was breached, this justified Lin’s termination without notice.
The OTPP also appealed the lower court’s decision on the appropriate notice period and on whether the damages should include amounts that he would’ve earned under its incentive plans.
However, the appeal court dismissed the OTPP’s arguments.
“Briefly, there is nothing in the trial judge’s comprehensive and detailed reasons for judgment that discloses an error that would justify interference by this court,” the appeal court said in its decision.
“There was no extricable legal error or error in principle in the trial judge’s interpretation of the code, or his analysis of the issue of cause in this case,” the court added, noting that the trial judge’s decision on damages was also correct.