A tremendous amount of press has been generated by the Keays v. Honda Canada Inc. (March 17, 2005, Ont. S.C.) case. In this case the Court determined that the period of reasonable notice was 24 months salary (including Wallace damages) and, in addition, awarded the employee $500,000 in punitive damages. A punitive damages award of this magnitude was, simply, unheard of in Canadian employment law. The case is under appeal.
Then I had to look twice when I read today in the LA Times that a Fired UPS Worker Is Awarded $21 Million (registration required). According to the article:
After a three-week trial, a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury in Norwalk on Thursday awarded Gnesda $748,000 in compensatory damages and $20 million in punitive damages.
That's $20 million in punitives in case you thought you misread that, as I did. UPS is "weighing an appeal".
Thanks to The Employment Law Bulletin for their post.
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