Ritual cuts 40% of employees at Toronto food ordering app

Samfiru Tumarkin LLP has learned that Toronto-based food ordering app Ritual laid off 38 employees on June 21, representing approximately 40 per cent of the tech company’s team. The reduction was confirmed by the company in a statement to The Canadian Press on June 23.

Ritual said the cuts were a difficult decision, but claimed that the move will benefit both the company and the restaurants they service.

The layoff follows the app’s decision back in May to start charging customers a fee to place an order on the platform. The new fee ranges from 15 cents to $1.99 per order.

Our employment lawyers are following up with affected staff to better understand the situation.

Ritual has engaged in several rounds of layoffs in recent years, including:

• April 2020: The company fired around 190 employees, or half of its 365-strong workforce, due to the impact of COVID-19 on restaurants around the world.
• June 2022: Almost one year ago to the day, Ritual cut 16 per cent of its staff. At the time, Reddy said in a LinkedIn post that the 23 employees were laid off to “prepare for a recession.” He added that the terminations were “difficult” but necessary as Ritual focused its resources on “fewer products and services.”

Major tech layoffs continue

Ritual joins the ongoing string of layoffs at North American tech companies in 2023.

Several big names, including Spotify, Dropbox, Meta, Amazon, Kyndryl, Alphabet, Dell, Clearco, and Microsoft, are significantly scaling back their staffing levels as they continue to navigate challenging economic conditions.

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Termination agreements for Ritual employees

In Canada, non-unionized employees and senior executives working at Ritual 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.

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

LEARN MORE
• Severance for provincially regulated employees
• Severance packages in mass layoffs
• Severance packages for tech workers

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 compensation if it falls short of what you are actually owed.

If you aren’t given 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.