Employment lawyer Alex Lucifero talks Canopy Growth closure and employee rights

Interview Summary

Canopy Growth announced that it’s selling its facility in Smith Falls, Ontario back to Hershey Canada.

The sale and closure of this operation leads to questions regarding Canopy’s employees. What are they entitled to, if anything, due to the sale of the business? Does the type of sale a business implements matter when determining severance?

Alex Lucifero, an Ontario employment lawyer and Managing Partner at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, joined CTV News Ottawa to answer these questions and more on employee rights.

Interview Notes

• Different types of business sales: During the purchase or sale of a company, employees will either continue being employed with the purchasing business with ongoing seniority or lose their employment. Employees that the new owners of a company do not hire will be owed severance pay.
• Employee rights and entitlements: Many employees mistakenly assume that as a result of a business closure, they are not owed severance pay. Employees are still owed their full severance entitlements in the event of a business closure based on their age, years of service and position.