How Does a Federal Wrongful Dismissal Claim Work and How Long Does It Take?

How the federal unjust dismissal process works, step by step

This process applies only to employees of federally regulated employers (banks, airlines, telecommunications, interprovincial transportation, and similar sectors) under Part III of the Canada Labour Code. It does not describe the provincial wrongful dismissal process that applies to most Ontario and Alberta employees, who are covered by common law and provincial employment standards legislation instead.

Before you start: the process below is only available if you meet two conditions up front. You must have completed 12 consecutive months of continuous employment with the same employer, and you must not be covered by a collective agreement (unionized employees use their union’s grievance process instead) (Canada Labour Code, RSC 1985, c L-2, s 240(1)).

1. Confirm eligibility. Check that you meet the 12-month continuous employment threshold and are non-unionized. If either condition is not met, this complaint route is not available (s 240(1)).

2. File your complaint within 90 days. The complaint must be made in writing to the Head (a Labour Program official) within 90 days from the date of dismissal (s 240(2)). This deadline is strict. It can only be extended if the complaint was mistakenly filed with an official who lacked authority to handle it and the complainant reasonably believed otherwise, or in circumstances set out by regulation (s 240(3)).

3. Request written reasons for dismissal, if needed. On request, the employer must provide written reasons for the dismissal within 15 days. The employer carries the burden of showing the dismissal was for valid reasons (Canada Labour Code, RSC 1985, c L-2, s 241; Canada.ca, “Termination, layoff or dismissal”).

4. The Labour Program attempts resolution. Once a complaint is received, the Labour Program’s first step is to try to resolve it, which may include offering mediation (ss 241-242).

5. Mediation, if both sides agree. Attending mediation is voluntary; both the employer and the complainant must agree to participate. When a session happens, it typically occurs 8 to 12 weeks after the complaint is received and lasts only 2 to 4 hours. If either party declines mediation, the file instead goes to a Labour Program Inspector, who works to negotiate a settlement.

6. Referral to the Canada Industrial Relations Board. If mediation is declined or does not resolve the complaint, the Head of Compliance and Enforcement sends the file to the Canada Industrial Relations Board (the Board), which hears the matter and makes a determination. For complaints filed on or after July 29, 2019, the Board (rather than a separately appointed adjudicator) handles this hearing.

7. The Board’s hearing and remedies. If the Board finds the dismissal was unjust, it can order the employer to pay compensation up to the amount the employee would have earned but for the dismissal, order reinstatement, or order any other equitable remedy to counteract the effects of the dismissal (Canada Labour Code, RSC 1985, c L-2, s 242(4)).

8. The decision is final. No court can review, prohibit, or restrain the Board in an unjust dismissal proceeding; its determination stands (s 243(2)).

What this process does not cover

The Board cannot hear a complaint in two situations: where the person was laid off because of a genuine lack of work or the discontinuance of a function, or where another redress procedure already exists under another part of the Code or another federal statute (Canada Labour Code, RSC 1985, c L-2, s 242(3.1)). Employees in either situation need to look at other options, such as severance entitlements under the Code’s other provisions or a civil claim.

How long the whole process actually takes

There is no official published average for the total time from filing to a final Board decision; overall duration depends on how quickly mediation is offered, whether both parties agree to attend, and the Board’s own scheduling once a file is referred to it. The only fixed timeframes that are officially confirmed are the 90-day filing window and the 8-to-12-week window before a mediation session (when one occurs), which itself runs only 2 to 4 hours. Cases resolved at the mediation or Inspector-negotiation stage will generally conclude faster than those that proceed to a full Board hearing.

The complaint does not replace a civil lawsuit

Filing an unjust dismissal complaint under the Canada Labour Code does not stop an employee from also filing a civil lawsuit for wrongful dismissal while the Labour Program investigates the complaint (Canada.ca, “Termination, layoff or dismissal”). The Supreme Court of Canada has confirmed that this statutory scheme was built to give non-unionized federal employees protections comparable to a union grievance process, and that an employer cannot use a severance package to sidestep a determination of whether a dismissal was actually unjust under the Code (Wilson v Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd, 2016 SCC 29). At common law, by contrast, a non-unionized employee could historically be dismissed without cause as long as reasonable notice, or pay in lieu of notice, was given; the unjust dismissal scheme sits alongside, not in place of, that common law framework.