Longtime "Scotiabank Employee Fired Over Part-Time Job"

Times are tough and maybe you are considering taking on a second job to make ends meet. But depending on the terms of your employment, accepting a second position may mean your primary employer can fire you without notice or compensation.

That’s what happened to Marilyn Patterson, a customer service supervisor who worked for the Bank of Nova Scotia, in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, for 12 years.

In March 2008, she got a real estate license while she was still working for the bank and joined the local office of Prudential Realty. The bank told her this was unacceptable and told her to stop all her real estate activities, or take a 60 day unpaid leave of absence. During this period she could try and find another job within the bank where she would have no customer contact and/or mortgage authorization duties.

When she declined both of these options, she was fired without notice, although her supervisor testified that that there were no other performance problems and she did not abuse her position at the bank in any way. As a result she sued the bank for wrongful dismissal.

[Read the rest of this mess @ Moneyville.]