Case Report – Employer liable to former employee in defamation

This is a quick summary of a July 20th British Columbia Court of Appeal defamation decision with illustrative value. The Court held an employer to be liable for nominal damages in defamation because a manager ticked an “inadequate performance” box on a human resources exit form without justification. The Court accepted that the act of completing and sending the form was subject to qualified privilege, but held that the employer exceeded its privilege because the manager e-mailed the form to a person who did not have a proven duty to receive it (as a member of human resources). It awarded the plaintiff $1,000.

Dawydiuk v. Insurance Corporation of British Columbia,2010 BCCA 353.