I have an employee who has poor performance, has called in multiple times and was a no show. She has been verbal warned and has been written up for the no show and one bad customer comment. Is this grounds for dismissal

To terminate for "cause" based on anything short of very serious misconduct typically requires the employer to establish that, after each incident, whether poor job performance or attendance-related, is followed by suitable corrective action - informing the employee of what is wrong, what is expected/required, providing a reasonable opportunity to improve and warning that a failure to improve could result in termination. Generalizing, this may have to happen several times during an encapsulated period of time, although the precise requirements for establishing cause will vary depending on the circumstances, including, most importantly, a consideration of the type of job the individual holds and other contextual factors, in order to always ensure that the 'penalty' is appropriate to the context. In addition, to avoid the obligation to provide minimum statutory termination entitlements, you must additionally show that the conduct at issue is deliberate and wilful and causing serious disruption to your business. In sum, a termination without notice/severance obligations can be a "tall hill to climb" but certainly not impossible. However, it is not possible to confirm based on what you have written whether you are in a position to terminate for cause, but it appears that, in the face of a single written warning, a termination for cause may be premature depending on the other contextual factors, including the nature of the customer complaint in reference to the nature of the employee's job. We recommend that you contact us for a fuller assessment.