Toivanen v. Electronic Arts (Canada) Inc. (No. 2 ... - Canada.com

More documents

Recommendations

Info

financial resources to go into the market and repurchase the EA shares. Ms. Toivanen needed the cash from the exercise of her stock options to live. She was out of work, living with her parents, was responsible for a mortgage, and was not in receipt of LTD benefits until May 2003. In all of the circumstances, I find that to impose such a duty to mitigate upon Ms. Toivanen would be unreasonable in all the circumstances. Ms. Toivanen filed her complaint right after EA withdrew from settlement discussions about its discriminatory conduct, and I therefore find she mitigated her damages by pursuing her claim against EA. Similar to the situation in Genesee, the time that has ensued until this Decision does not reduce the mitigation of damages. [111] EA is ordered to pay Ms. Toivanen $69,230.08 for the value lost when it required her to cash-in her share options in January 2003. Unvested Options and Lost Stock Benefits [112] Ms. Toivanen says that her unvested stock options as at October 2002, an amount of 572, should continue to vest while she was on LTD. However, while Ms. Toivanen was on LTD benefits, her options would not continue to vest, even presuming she had not been dismissed and remained on LTD benefits. EA’s stock option grant is clear that vesting is suspended during unpaid leaves of absence, which would have been Ms. Toivanen’s employment status had she still been employed. [113] In Ontario Nurses’ Association. v. Orillia Soldiers Memorial Hospital, (1999) 42 O.R. (3d) 692, the Court confirmed an arbitration board’s finding that it was not discriminatory for an employer to discontinue benefit plan contributions when an employee was absent from work due to a disability. The Court’s reasoning was that the benefit plan contributions formed part of the compensation for work or services provided to the employer by the employees. The Court confirmed that employees not at work are not providing services to their employer. The Court found that requiring work in exchange for compensation was a reasonable and bona fide requirement. [114] As a result, a benefit accruing to an employee while they are at work may discontinue while they are on an unpaid leave of absence due to a disability, because the 27
accumulation of the benefit relates to the fact they are working. While they are on an unpaid leave of absence due to a disability, they are not working and so not entitled to the benefit accumulation. [115] The vesting of stock options at EA clearly relates to work. The stock options are part of the employee compensation package, but are not available to be cashed in until they are vested, and vesting occurs at 2% for each month that an employee works. As a result, vesting would not occur when Ms. Toivanen was not working and while on LTD. [116] Ms. Toivanen also seeks the stock option benefits she lost after she was dismissed, but continued on LTD. She says she should be entitled to the same benefits as similarly situated employees. Relying on the past regular receipt of stock options, Ms. Toivanen argues she should be granted 1000 new options on April 1, 2003. However, the difficulty with Ms. Toivanen’s position is that stock options, like the vesting of stock options, are compensation benefits relating to work. Because Ms. Toivanen was not working, these benefits are not available to her. B. Lost Wages and Bonuses [117] Ms. Toivanen seeks an order pursuant to s. 37(2)(d)(ii) of the Code for wage and bonus loss and stock and other benefits from September 3, 2002 to the date of the Decision in this case. Ms. Toivanen argues that, based on her prior performance reviews and resulting salary increases and bonuses, for the purposes of calculating the lost wages, I should assume a 5% annual wage increase and bonus loss of $4,500.00 per year. Based on Ms. Toivanen’s calculations, she is seeking a total wage plus bonus loss of $232,500.00 (plus interest). However, I must first determine Ms. Toivanen’s entitlement to a wage loss claim. [118] The Tribunal has not awarded damages for lost wages where a disabled employee is unable to work. It has awarded an equivalent to LTD benefits where an individual was deprived access to the benefits as a result their dismissal: Innes v. Re-Con Building Products, 2006 BCHRT 99. However, Ms. Toivanen was not deprived of access to LTD 28
Page 1 and 2: Date Issued: August 15, 2006 File:
Page 3 and 4: [7] In July 2002, EA conducted an o
Page 5 and 6: [17] Ms. Toivanen is originally fro
Page 7 and 8: pick a job that would make her exci
Page 9 and 10: prefer not to deal with Ms. Toivane
Page 11 and 12: [38] When Ms. York received Dr. Rod
Page 13 and 14: eing terminated. Dr. Rode notes “
Page 15 and 16: [55] Ms. Chung described the work e
Page 17 and 18: 4. Replenishment stock: may be give
Page 19 and 20: October 29, 2001 $61,600 [72] Ms. T
Page 21 and 22: that the Tribunal should award comp
Page 23 and 24: [89] By their admission, EA has vio
Page 25 and 26: [97] As a result, I decline to orde
Page 27: Toivanen’s previous profit ($38,6
Page 31 and 32: Severance pay recognizes that an em
Page 33 and 34: damages awarded for the employee’
Page 35 and 36: Work is one of the most fundamental
Page 37: 6. EA is ordered to pay Ms. Toivane

Toivanen v. Electronic Arts (Canada) Inc. (No. 2 ... - Canada.com

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?