Ontario proposes mass layoff changes for remote workers: The facts

The Ontario government is proposing a change to the province’s employment laws that would allegedly aid a growing number of remote workers in a fluctuating economy.

Announced by Labour Minister Monte McNaughton on Mar. 13, the change would “make employees who work solely from home eligible for enhanced notice as “in-office” and other employees in mass termination situations.”

“Whether you commute to work every day or not shouldn’t determine what you are owed. No billion-dollar company should be treating their remote employees as second-class,” said McNaughton.

Here are some additional facts about the proposed legislation:

• The Employment Standards Act (ESA) rules for mass layoffs in Ontario apply when the employment of 50 or more employees is ended at an employer’s establishment within a four-week period. In a large termination, a worker could be entitled to eight, 12 or 16 weeks’ notice or minimum severance pay, depending on how many are let go.
• The change would broaden the definition of “establishment” to include someone’s remote office (at home or another location outside the workplace).

Legislation fixes a problem that doesn’t exist

While employment law firm Samfiru Tumarkin LLP supports all legislative changes that benefit employees and strengthen workers’ rights, Ontario’s proposed modifications for remote workers solves a problem that doesn’t really exist.

Based on decades of employment law experience and helping tens of thousands of clients secure full severance packages in Ontario, Samfiru Tumarkin LLP is not aware of employers routinely using this tactic to deny proper severance pay to remote workers.

The fact that an employee works remotely, outside of a traditional workplace setting, does not give an employer the ability to exclude them from appropriate minimum severance payments under the ESA.

Severance pay for remote workers

When a remote worker in Ontario (and elsewhere in Canada) is fired or loses their job in a mass layoff, they are entitled to full severance pay. A termination package can total as much as 24 months’ pay.

The severance package must account for their minimum entitlements under the ESA and full amount under “common law,” which looks at numerous factors, including their:

• Age
• Length of service with the company
• Their position
• Bonus
• Ability to find new work

Use the Pocket Employment Lawyer to find out how much you may be owed today.

Employers don’t have the option of “opting out” from providing proper severance pay when they fire or lay off an employee.

If you receive a severance offer from your employer, know that you are not legally required to sign it back by any deadline applied by the company. You have two years to pursue a claim for severance, which starts the moment you lose your job.