Ross Video slashing workforce by 9% as tech layoffs mount

After hiring aggressively to meet anticipated demand, Ross Video is scaling back its staffing levels.

The Ottawa-based supplier of live production solutions confirmed to the Morrisburg Leader on Aug. 16 that it’s eliminating nine per cent of its workforce.

“Essentially, we’re still growing year-over-year, but not quite at the pace indicated by our record pipeline at the start of the year,” Jeff Poapst, chief manufacturing officer at Ross Video, told The Leader.

The confirmation comes after several employees, including a software developer, notified Samfiru Tumarkin LLP about the layoff on Aug. 15.

Ross Video claims on its website that it employs a total workforce of more than 1,300 people.

Major tech layoffs continue

The reduction at Ross Video comes amid a flurry of tech sector layoffs in 2023.

Big names, including SecureWorks, Rapid7, Dell, Discord, Telus, Amazon, Microsoft, Ritual, and Meta, have announced deep job cuts as they continue to navigate challenging economic conditions.

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Termination agreements for Ross Video employees

As part of the layoff announcement, Poapst told The Leader that affected staff “will be offered fair severance, extended benefits, and outplacement services.”

In Canada, non-unionized employees at Ross Video are owed full severance pay when they lose their jobs due to downsizing, corporate restructuring, or the closure of the business.

This includes individuals working full-time, part-time, or hourly in Ontario and British Columbia.

People working “on contract” or as a contractor may also be owed severance pay — given that many employees in Canada are often misclassified as independent contractors.

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

LEARN MORE
• Severance pay technology industry employees
• Rights to severance for provincially regulated employees
• Severance entitlements during 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.