Aurora Cannabis: Severance Package
Founded in 2013, Aurora Cannabis Inc. is a Canadian cannabis producer serving the medical, consumer, and wellness markets. The Edmonton-based company is the second largest cannabis company in the world, after Canopy Growth Corporation. It has a global footprint that spans across eight production facilities, 25 countries and five continents.
The company employs a workforce of over 2,000 people, and includes numerous subsidiaries, including Pedanios GmbH, CanvasRx, BC Northern Lights, Aurora-Larssen Projects, H2 Biopharma, CanniMed, and Medreleaf.
Aurora Cannabis Inc. has made significant cuts over the past two years, trying to adapt to the profitability struggles brought on by the pandemic.
Latest layoffs at Aurora Cannabis
Over the past two years, Edmonton-based company Aurora Cannabis has engaged in numerous rounds of layoffs:
- June 22, 2022: Aurora Cannabis confirms that it is laying off 12 per cent of its workforce as it attempts to reorganize.
- March 24, 2022: The company announces closure of outdoor grow sites in Kamloops, B.C. and another location in Edmonton, Alberta. In some cases, employees have been offered transitional roles within the company wherever possible.
- January 25, 2021: Toronto-based marijuana producer Great North takes on Aurora Cannabis’ sales. After the closure of the Aurora Polaris facility, the company then cut more than 200 positions within the sales team in the weeks to follow.
- September 22, 2020: Aurora Cannabis Inc. plans to close Aurora Polaris site in Edmonton in attempts to strengthen its core operations and adjust to future demand, affecting 8% of the workforce.
- June 23, 2020: The company announces the closing of multiple facilities after being hit hard by the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic across Canada. Layoffs include thirty per cent of the production staff, totalling 700 employees and the permanent shutdown of five facilities.
Severance for Aurora Cannabis employees
In Canada, non-unionized employees at Aurora Cannabis can get up to 24 months of severance pay when they are fired or laid off from their job. This applies to individuals working in any capacity—full-time, part-time, or hourly—in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia.
Severance is the compensation provided to non-unionized workers in Canada by their employer when they are terminated without cause.
Even if an employee is fired for cause, they may still be eligible for full severance pay. This is due to the high standards required to legally justify for-cause dismissal.
LEARN MORE
• Severance for provincially regulated employees
• Severance pay by company
• Federally regulated employees and severance pay
• Severance packages in mass layoffs
The right to severance pay is consistent regardless of economic conditions, company downsizing, business closures, or significant public health events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
WATCH: Employment lawyer Lior Samfiru explains everything you need to know about severance pay on an episode of the Employment Law Show.
The employment lawyers at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP have represented numerous cannabis industry employees over the years in severance package negotiations.
We have successfully secured much larger amounts for thousands of individuals employed across a variety of positions, from entry level jobs to executives.
How to properly calculate severance pay
There is a general belief that severance is one week’s pay, two weeks’ pay, or a week for every year of service an employee has with a company.
The reality is that severance for non-unionized employees in Canada is calculated using a variety of factors, including age, length of service, position, bonuses, benefits, and your ability to find new work.
To figure out how much compensation you may be entitled to, use our firm’s Pocket Employment Lawyer.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
• Severance Pay in Ontario
• Alberta severance packages
• Understanding severance in B.C.
• Layoffs in Canada
Don’t sign on the dotted line!
Do not accept any severance offer, termination papers, or exit agreement that you receive. Once you sign back these documents, you eliminate your ability to negotiate additional severance pay.
Generally speaking, if an employee does not receive the proper amount of severance pay when they lose their job, they may be considered to have been wrongfully dismissed. An employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP can analyze your situation and explain how much compensation you may be owed.
Talk to an employment lawyer
The experienced employment law team at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP has helped tens of thousands of non-unionized individuals across the country. In addition to severance package negotiations, our team has experience securing solutions for the following employment matters:
Our lawyers in Ontario, Alberta, and B.C. stand ready to help you solve your workplace issues.
If you are a non-unionized employee who needs help with an employment issue, contact us or call 1-855-821-5900 to get the advice you need, and the compensation you deserve.
Disclaimer: The materials above are provided as general information about the rights of employees in Canada. It is not specific to any one company and should not be read as suggesting any improper conduct on the part of any specific employer.
About the Author
Lior Samfiru
Lior Samfiru is a Founding Partner of Samfiru Tumarkin LLP and Practice Leader for the firm's Labour & Employment Law Group. His experience in countless successful cases and mediations on behalf of employees and employers, as well as his continued advocacy for the rights of workers, makes him one of the most skilled and sought-after labour and employment lawyers in Canada.
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