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Ontario ruling on disability notice period stands

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OTTAWA—The Supreme Court of Canada has declined to hear an appeal in a case that held employers responsible for providing disability benefits for an unspecified period after terminating employees.

In Egan vs. Alcatel Canada, the Ontario Court of Appeal in Toronto in January ruled that an employee was entitled to all benefits, including disability benefits, after her employer prematurely canceled her disability benefits following the end of the statutory notice period required for terminated employees (BI, May 29). Alcatel Canada filed an application in March asking the Supreme Court to hear the case.

In rejecting the case, the Supreme Court was not commenting on its merits but took the view that the case presented no reasons of national importance to hear the appeal, said Kevin MacNeill, a lawyer with the labor and employment practice of Heenan Blaikie L.L.P. in Toronto. The Supreme Court's rejection of the appeal means the Ontario Court of Appeal decision is the definitive law on this area of liability related to disability benefits, he observed.

Alcatel Canada, an Ottawa-based unit of the French telecommunications company, could not be immediately reached for comment.