Slapping Co-Worker Didn’t Justify Immediate Termination

A worker slapped a co-worker and was fired despite having a clean record and no history of violence or anger management problems. He sued for wrongful dismissal. The court ruled that although workplace violence was a serious issue, it was difficult to see how the worker’s conduct justified outright dismissal. He’d never caused any other problems and was a conscientious worker. And the employer barred violence in its employee handbook but didn’t train workers on it. So the court ordered the employer to pay the worker more than $12,000 in damages [Shakur v. Mitchell Plastics, [2012] ONSC 1008 (CanLII), Feb. 13, 2012].