Wrongful Dismissal: How Does It Work Federally, in Ontario, and in Alberta?

Federal vs. Ontario vs. Alberta at a glance

Which process applies turns on one threshold question: is the employer federally regulated (covered by the Canada Labour Code, Part III) or provincially regulated (covered by Ontario or Alberta law)? The routes, deadlines, and forums differ sharply.

Which route applies to you

The first decision point is jurisdiction, not strategy. If the employer is federally regulated, the Canada Labour Code’s unjust dismissal complaint is the only statutory complaint route, and it comes with a hard 90-day filing deadline from the date of dismissal, extendable only if the complaint was mistakenly filed with an official who lacked authority to deal with it, or in circumstances set out by regulation. Missing that window forecloses the statutory complaint, though a separate civil wrongful dismissal lawsuit against a federally regulated employer remains a distinct option, since filing a Code complaint does not prevent also pursuing a civil action.

If the employer is provincially regulated in Ontario or Alberta, there is no equivalent statutory complaint with a short fuse. Instead, the applicable limitation period is 2 years from when the employee knew, or ought to have known, of the dismissal and that it was attributable to the employer, in both provinces. Within that 2 years, the amount being claimed drives forum: Ontario claims up to $50,000 are generally better suited to Small Claims Court, up to $200,000 use the mandatory simplified procedure in Superior Court, and anything above that follows the ordinary Superior Court process. Alberta claims up to $100,000 can be filed in Provincial Court (Civil Claims); above that, the Court of King’s Bench applies, with a $300 fee to file a Statement of Claim.

Ontario adds one further branching decision: an employee can pursue an Employment Standards Act claim with the Ministry of Labour for statutory termination and severance pay, or a civil lawsuit for common-law reasonable notice, but not both for the same termination. The statutory route is investigated by the Ministry and can take several months; the civil route is a lawsuit with its own multi-stage timeline.

How long each route actually takes

None of the three regimes has a single official “average” timeline; duration depends on the procedural stages actually used.

Federal: After a complaint is filed (within 90 days), the employer must, on request, give written reasons for the dismissal within 15 days. The Labour Program first attempts resolution, including a voluntary mediation session that, if both sides agree to it, generally happens 8 to 12 weeks after the complaint is received and lasts only 2 to 4 hours. If mediation is declined or fails, the file goes to a Labour Program Inspector to negotiate settlement, or, for complaints filed on or after July 29, 2019, to the Canada Industrial Relations Board for a hearing and final determination. The Board’s decision cannot be reviewed by any court, which removes an appeal stage that exists in the civil courts.

Ontario: A Superior Court action generally moves through nine stages: claim, defence, close of pleadings, discovery, mandatory mediation, setting the action down for trial, pre-trial conference, motions, and trial. In Toronto, Ottawa, and Windsor, mandatory mediation must occur within 180 days of the first statement of defence being filed, unless the parties agree otherwise. As an outer boundary, if the action is not set down for trial within 5 years of being started, it is automatically dismissed for delay. The alternative ESA claim route, filed with the Ministry of Labour, is investigated by an early resolution officer and can take several months on its own.

Alberta: Once a Provincial Court civil claim is filed, it must be served on the defendant within 1 year of filing, extendable by up to 3 months on application. No sourced procedural step-map exists for Alberta comparable to Ontario’s nine-stage list, so the practical duration of a King’s Bench or Provincial Court wrongful dismissal action depends on case-specific scheduling rather than a fixed statutory timetable.

Damages and the duty to mitigate

Regardless of forum, a dismissed employee generally has an ongoing duty to mitigate damages by seeking comparable alternate employment; both Alberta and Ontario case law confirm courts can reduce an award for a documented failure to do so. In Ontario, courts have also expressly rejected any fixed formula, such as one month of notice per year of service, in favour of assessing the Bardal factors (character of employment, length of service, age, and availability of similar employment) case by case. Alberta applies the same Bardal factors but recognizes an informal 24-month upper limit on reasonable notice awards. Federally, the Board’s remedy is compensation up to the amount of remuneration the employee would otherwise have earned, plus reinstatement or any other equitable remedy, a structure distinct from the common-law “notice period” measure used provincially.