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Litigation

Can I get extra damages if my employer fired me in a humiliating or bad-faith way in Ontario?

TSL Written by the Treadstone Law team· Updated August 2026

Yes. Ontario courts can award additional moral damages on top of ordinary notice-based damages where the manner of your dismissal itself was unfair, untruthful, or unnecessarily harsh - for example, being misleadingly told the termination was for one reason when it was not, or being dismissed in a deliberately humiliating way in front of colleagues. These damages compensate for the mental distress caused specifically by how the dismissal was carried out, which is a distinct legal question from whether adequate notice was given for the job loss itself.

To succeed, you generally need to show the employer's conduct during the dismissal process was genuinely unfair or in bad faith, not just that being fired was upsetting, since losing a job is inherently difficult regardless of how considerately it is handled. These claims require specific evidence about how the termination was actually conducted - what was said, by whom, and in what setting - which is why documenting exactly what happened during and immediately after the termination meeting matters considerably to a claim like this.

Key takeaways

  • Moral damages compensate for unfair or bad-faith conduct in how a dismissal was carried out.
  • They are separate from damages for the dismissal itself and require their own proof.
  • Ordinary distress from losing a job generally is not enough on its own.
  • Documenting exactly how the termination was communicated is important evidence.
This is general information, not legal advice. It doesn’t create a lawyer–client relationship, and the rules can change. For advice on your situation, a Treadstone litigation lawyer can help.
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