Alberta Courts Release Oppression Remedy Case In the Context of A Wrongful Dismissal Claim
An interesting new oppression remedy case was recently released by the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench. In Wiser v CEM International Management Consultants Ltd, an employee sued for wrongful dismissal and subsequently two directors of the employer sold the assets of the old company to a new company they incorporated and began carrying on essentially the same business. Using the oppression remedy analysis under the Alberta Business Corporations Act, the court found that both the new company and the directors were personally liable to pay the full judgement to the employee. This legislation is similar to the provisions under the Ontario Business Corporations Act, and the courts are sending a clear message here: oppression remedy can and will be used to sanction parties who engage in conduct that unfairly disregards the interests of individual employees/shareholders.