What is the test for determining whether an employee’s conduct provides cause for dismissal?

The approach to assessing whether the employee’s conduct provides cause for dismissal is objective - that is, the employer’s view that the conduct is sufficient to establish cause (or the employee’s view that it is not) is not determinative. However, the approach is also contextual: the court must consider “the particular circumstances surrounding the employee’s behaviour ... factors such as the nature and degree of the misconduct, and whether it violates the ‘essential conditions’ of the employment contract or breaches an employer’s faith in an employee” (McKinley v. BC Tel, 2001 SCC 38, [2001] 2 S.C.R. 161, at para. 39). This approach balances the employer’s right to dismiss an employee for cause with the importance of both the work and the manner of dismissal to an employee’s self-worth.