What is the legal test for damages for mental distress in a wrongful dismissal action?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from Deidal v. Tod Mountain Development Ltd., 1995 CanLII 567 (BC SC):

45 The court may award damages for mental distress in wrongful dismissal actions in one of two ways. It may award them as aggravated damages, as sought in the case at bar, or it may award them as damages for breach of contract, on the rare occasion when it can be established that at the time that the contract of employment was entered into, it was within the parties contemplation that if the employee did not receive reasonable notice of his termination he would probably suffer mental distress. The latter contractual damages are awarded on the application of the principles of Hadley v. Baxendale (1854), 156 E.R. 145.

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