Employee who didn’t read terms of stock option agreement has case overturned

By Julius Melnitzer | November 28, 2021

The Ontario Court of Appeal has overturned a Superior Court decision that allowed an employee to receive his stock option awards throughout his 24 months of reasonable notice on the grounds that the employer had failed to provide adequate notice of termination.

“The decision gives important guidance to employers about what will be appropriate in terms of drawing employees’ attention to termination provisions,” says Tamara Ticoll, counsel in Stikeman Elliott LLP’s employment and labour group. “But it does not change the premise that contractual termination provisions need to be clear and unambiguous.”