WestJet pandemic reorganization results in 3,333 layoffs

WestJet has announced that it is laying off or firing 3,333 employees in response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The changes will impact staff across the airline as it:

• Consolidates call centre operations in Alberta.
• Contracts out airport operations at many locations.
• Restructures its management team.

Through a note on its website, the Calgary-based airline said that the pandemic has forced the company to reorganize its business. WestJet will also ground two-thirds of its fleet due to widespread border closures.

Ed Sims, president and CEO of the airline, said in a video posted to Twitter that the coronavirus outbreak has been the “biggest crisis in the history of aviation.”

Throughout the COVID-19 crisis we have had to make many challenging decisions. Today is the toughest of all of these difficult days as we look to provide thousands of our own employees with clarity on their roles at WestJet and the future of our airline. https://t.co/Cz5mG5HRma pic.twitter.com/7UZvxNA9Ov

— WestJet (@WestJet) June 24, 2020

Termination agreements for WestJet employees

In Canada, non-unionized employees at WestJet are owed full severance pay when they lose their jobs due to downsizing or corporate restructuring.

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 packages in mass layoffs
• Rights to severance for federally regulated employees
• Severance pay 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 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.