An Ontario judge has decided that Atomic Energy of Canada Limited had just cause to dismiss an industrial safety specialist who misrepresented his employment history in a security application.
AECL operates nuclear research facilities. It runs security checks that are mandated by the Government of Canada, including obtaining site security clearances for new employees.
AECL received harassment complaints against the employee. During the investigation, it came out that the employee had been employed at the time AECL hired him. However, during the hiring process, he had indicated on a security questionnaire, and in an e-mail when specifically asked, that he was unemployed. This was false. AECL fired him.
The employee sued for wrongful dismissal. In the course of the lawsuit, he offered five different explanations for why he lied to AECL about his employment status.
The court decided that AECL had just cause to dismiss the employee. AECL was not a “regular employer”, and the pre-employment security checks were “tied to the security of the nation”. The court stated, “It is in this national security context that the plaintiff misled his employer”. He had “engaged in a most serious form of dishonesty and, standing on its own, it was irreconcilable with sustaining his employment relationship with AECL. It is dishonesty that went to the core of the employment relationship and he was terminated with cause.”
Aboagye v Atomic Energy, 2016 ONSC 8165 (CanLII)
