Target Canada’s 17,600 Laid Off Workers to Access $70M Severance Fund

As U.S. retail giant Target Corp. gives up on its disastrous northern expansion by seeking bankruptcy protection for its insolvent Canadian unit and laying off 17,500 employees, it is trying to soften the blow with a move aimed at guaranteeing that its workers receive all of their severance payments.

Target Canada’s U.S. parent has set up a trust fund of as much as $70-million to be kept completely separate from the restructuring process and to cover its employees’ severance payments. Most are to receive 16 weeks pay, Target Canada says.

Is that a fair amount?

Employment Lawyer Lior Samfiru joined The John Oakley Show on Talk Radio AM640 to comment on Target’s severance fund, what terminated employees are ACTUALLY owed in terms of severance pay, and how wrongful dismissal factors into the story.

Lior also takes a live phone call from an irate business owner who takes issue with the idea of severance pay for terminated employees.