Biogen slashing 1,000 jobs as part of restructuring

After laying off nearly 900 employees last year, Biogen is trimming its headcount once again.

According to news outlets, including Fierce Pharma, the biotech company has begun to cut around 1,000 jobs, or 11 per cent of its workforce. Most of the layoff notices will be distributed by the end of September.

“Biogen’s business is in transition. Accordingly, we have taken a bottom-up view to shift our resources to the areas of greatest value creation,” President and CEO Christopher Viehbacher said in a news release on July 25.

“While we will be making significant investments in our newly prioritized pipeline and new product launches, we will also need to invest less in other areas which are no longer growing. With these changes, I believe that Biogen will be better positioned to maximize its growth opportunities going forward.”

The company employed a global workforce of more than 8,700 people at the end of 2022, according to CNBC.

Impact on Canadian staff

It remains unclear how many Canadian employees are affected by the latest round of job cuts at Biogen.

According to LinkedIn, the biotech company has more than 80 workers in the country.

Major layoffs continue

Biogen joins the growing list of major North American companies that have announced sweeping layoffs in 2023.

Big names, including Dell, Telus, Amazon, Microsoft, PVH, Ritual, Spotify, Meta, and Suncor Energy, are significantly scaling back their staffing levels as they continue to navigate challenging economic conditions.

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Termination agreements for Biogen Canada staff

In Canada, non-unionized employees at Biogen 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, Alberta, and B.C.

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 for provincially regulated employees
• Rights to severance during mass layoffs
• Severance entitlements in a recession

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.