Mountain Equipment Co-op laying off 200 employees over COVID-19

Mountain Equipment Co-op, one of Canada’s leading outdoor recreation retailers, is permanently laying off 200 employees due to COVID-19.

The company says that due to ongoing pandemic, they will “transition some staff from temporary layoffs to permanent layoffs.”

In March, Mountain Equipment Co-op placed over 1,300 employees on temporary layoffs as it closed all of its 22 stores. While many of those stores have reopened, 7 remain closed, though the company says those closures continue to be temporary.

The company, often referred to as MEC, launched with one location in Vancouver back in 1971, and has since grown into Canada’s largest co-operative.

Termination agreements for Mountain Equipment Co-op employees

In Canada, non-unionized employees at Mountain Equipment Company are owed full severance pay when they lose their jobs due to downsizing or corporate restructuring.

This includes individuals working full-time, part-time, or hourly in Ontario, Alberta, and B.C.

Severance can be as much as 24 months’ pay, depending on a number of factors.

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• Severance for technology industry employees
• Severance for provincially regulated employees
• Severance packages in mass layoffs

WATCH: Employment lawyer Lior Samfiru explains what rights employees have if they are being fired or let go on an episode of the Employment Law Show.

Before you accept any severance offer, have an experienced employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP review it and your employment contract.

We can tell you if what you have been provided is fair and how to get proper severance if it falls short of what you are actually owed.

If you don’t receive the full amount, which happens often, you have been wrongfully dismissed and are entitled to compensation.

In some cases, employers pressure staff into accepting poor severance packages, such as imposing a deadline for accepting the offer.

Non-unionized employees in Canada have up to two years from the date of their dismissal to pursue a claim for full severance pay.