Court found engineer showed 'careless disregard' for confidentiality despite decades of service
In a decision dated May 12, 2026, Justice N.F. Dilts of the Court of King's Bench of Alberta upheld the for-cause termination of Kelly Benham, a Senior Technical Advisor with more than 40 years of service at Suncor Energy and its predecessor companies. Benham was fired on March 18, 2021, five months before his planned retirement, after repeatedly involving his son Nick, an engineering graduate, in the development of a Suncor patent, failing to flag a conflict of interest, and continuing to promote his son's separate patent filing inside the company despite repeated warnings. The court found the termination lawful, and ruled Benham's stock options and restricted share units were validly cancelled.
Without seeking approval from his supervisor, Benham brought his son into work on Suncor's "Integrated Thermal Process" (ITP) patent in 2018. Nick spent hundreds of hours on the project, was eventually named an inventor, and signed an NDA and assignment agreement.
In November 2018, Benham received a formal reprimand for breaching Suncor's Standards of Business Conduct, including storing business records in his home office and disclosing patent contents to his son.
He was warned that "any further violations of Suncor policy might result in additional disciplinary action, up to and including termination."
The secret patent filing, and the pitch to buy it back
Unknown to Suncor, Nick filed his own patent in early 2019 covering plastics and bio renewable feedstocks. Months later, Benham urged Suncor to use the filing without initially disclosing it was his son's.
Suncor's internal investigation concluded Nick's filing appeared to have been based on confidential Suncor information disclosed by Benham, though the court noted there was no direct evidence of that. Suncor ultimately paid Nick $75,000, plus potential milestone payments that were never triggered, to assign the patent to the company.
Despite repeated cautions, Benham kept circulating his son's work internally. In a May 2020 email, Mr. Wamboldt, General Manager of Suncor's Enterprise Technology Development group, told him: "At some point it may be necessary for you to recuse yourself given the conflict of interest represented by your son."
What sealed the dismissal
Suncor's Conflict of Interest policy requires employees to consult a supervisor or legal before disclosing confidential information, and warns that breaches may result in immediate dismissal. The IP Standard requires leader approval and an NDA before any third-party disclosure.
Benham testified he believed his seniority gave him authority to approve Nick's involvement. The court rejected that.
Justice Dilts concluded, "Mr. Benham's conduct does not reflect a single incident of an employee displaying poor judgment, corrected after it being brought to his attention. Mr. Benham's actions show either a lack of understanding or a careless disregard of the obligations he owed to Suncor to protect its confidential information."
