Could the judicial scales be tipping in employers' favour?

The Ontario Court of Appeal in Toronto, Ont. Photo by Colin Perkel/The Canadian Press files

For years, Canadian courts have treated employers as the villains of the employment law drama — scrutinizing contracts for the faintest imperfections and rewarding employees with severance windfalls.

Companies could spend thousands on meticulously drafted agreements only to have them struck down over a single misplaced (or not so misplaced) phrase. The judicial climate left many employers wondering why they bothered with contracts at all.

But rulings delivered this past summer suggest the tide may finally be turning. For almost the first time in years, employers saw courts uphold the plain meaning of their contracts, even where employees pressed for generous interpretations. Call it the beg