An Alberta court has ruled that an employer had good reason to dismiss an executive for bringing a prostitute to his office and leaving her there unattended.
The dismissed vice-president and investment advisor was intoxicated when he brought a prostitute to the employer’s premises late at night. In its decision, the Court concluded that that the services sought were not performed, a dispute developed between the employee and the prostitute, with the employee refusing to pay the balance of the prostitute’s fee. The employee then departed from the building, leaving the prostitute alone in the lobby of the employer’s office for 20 minutes at which time she had access to the employer’s client files and confidential information. The prostitute eventually also left the office.
The incident came to light when the prostitute returned the next day during business hours and demanded payment from the employer’s receptionist. The employee was subsequently dismissed for just cause.
The Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench held that the executive’s behaviour displayed a lack of integrity, deficient judgment, dishonesty, untrustworthiness and a careless disregard for client and corporate confidentiality. As a result, the Court ruled that the employer had just cause for termination.
Whitehouse v. RBC Dominion Securities Inc. [2006] A.J. No. 667