In Ontario, your final pay is generally due no later than seven days after your employment ends or your next regular payday, whichever is later. This rule applies when you quit or when your employer ends your employment.
Your final pay can include wages you already earned, outstanding overtime, accrued vacation pay and other compensation that has become legally payable. If you were fired, termination pay and statutory severance pay can also be owing under separate rules.
Your last paycheque is not necessarily your full severance package. An employer can correctly pay your final salary and vacation pay while still offering far less termination compensation than you are legally entitled to receive.
On This Page:
- 1. When Final Pay Is Due
- 2. What Final Pay Includes
- 3. Final Pay After You Quit
- 4. Final Pay After You Are Fired
- 5. Deductions and Withheld Pay
- 6. Final Pay vs. Severance
- 7. What to Do If Final Pay Is Missing
When Is Final Pay Due in Ontario?
Your employer must generally pay outstanding wages by the later of two dates: seven days after your employment ends or your next regular payday.
The word “later” matters.
For example:
- If your next payday is three days after your last day, the seven-day date is later, so that is the applicable deadline.
- If your next regular payday is 10 days after your last day, the regular payday is later, so that is the applicable deadline.
Does the same deadline apply if you were fired immediately?
Yes. Ending your employment immediately does not allow the employer to delay wages that are legally due.
If ESA termination pay is owed because you were not given sufficient working notice, that termination pay must also be paid no later than seven days after termination or your next regular pay date, whichever is later.
When is statutory severance pay due?
ESA severance pay is normally due on the same later-of-seven-days-or-next-payday timetable.
There is an exception. Statutory severance pay can be paid in installments if the employee agrees electronically or in writing, or if the Director of Employment Standards approves the arrangement. The installment period can’t exceed three years. If a required installment is missed, the remaining statutory severance becomes due immediately.
What Should Be Included in Your Final Pay?
Your final pay should include all wages and other amounts that have become legally payable when your employment ends.
Depending on your situation, that can include:
- Regular wages: Salary or hourly wages earned through your final day
- Overtime: Overtime pay you earned and have not yet received
- Vacation pay: Vacation pay accrued and owing when employment ends
- Commissions: Commissions that have been earned and become payable under the applicable compensation terms
- Bonuses: Amounts that have become earned and payable under the employment agreement or bonus plan
- Public holiday pay: Where you earned a substitute holiday with public holiday pay but employment ends before you receive it
- Termination pay: ESA pay in lieu of notice where applicable
- Statutory severance pay: If you satisfy Ontario’s separate eligibility requirements
Ontario requires accrued vacation pay to be paid when employment ends. Employees with less than five years of employment generally earn vacation pay at a minimum rate of four per cent, while employees with five years or more generally earn at least six per cent.
Do you receive vacation pay on termination pay?
Yes. If ESA termination pay is owed, vacation pay is also payable on that termination pay. Ontario’s termination guidance expressly includes vacation pay in the termination-pay calculation.
For more detail, read our guide to vacation pay in Ontario.
Are commissions and bonuses always included?
No. Whether a commission or bonus belongs in your final pay depends on whether it has been earned and become payable under the employment contract, compensation plan and applicable law. Ontario’s wage rules recognize that commission or bonus amounts aren’t necessarily earned on the same date that the underlying sale or work occurs.
Termination can also create separate rights to incentive compensation during a notice period. Don’t assume that a final payroll statement settles every bonus or commission entitlement connected to your dismissal.
What Final Pay Do You Get If You Quit?
If you voluntarily quit, your employer still has to pay the wages and vacation pay you earned before your employment ended.
Resignation does not allow an employer to confiscate your final wages because it wanted more notice or was unhappy with your departure.
A normal voluntary resignation usually does not create a right to termination or severance compensation. But your earned wages remain payable.
What if you quit without giving two weeks’ notice?
Your employer does not gain an automatic right to keep your wages simply because you gave less notice than it wanted.
An employer can have a separate legal issue concerning an employee’s departure, but deductions from final wages still have to comply with Ontario’s wage-deduction rules.
What if you were forced to resign?
Don’t assume a resignation means final wages are all you can receive if your employer effectively forced you out.
A major unilateral pay cut, demotion or other fundamental change can amount to constructive dismissal in Ontario. If your resignation is legally treated as a termination, you can have severance rights as well.
What Final Pay Do You Get If You Are Fired?
If you are fired, your employer still has to pay everything you already earned, and additional termination compensation can also be owed.
Your final payroll can therefore include regular wages, vacation pay and other earned compensation, plus ESA termination pay and statutory severance pay where the legal requirements are met.
What if your employer says you were fired for cause?
A cause allegation does not erase salary, hourly wages or vacation pay you already earned.
Whether the allegation can eliminate termination compensation is a separate legal question. Don’t accept “for cause” as proof that nothing further is owed.
Does your employer have to pay you before you sign a release?
Your employer can’t require you to waive minimum ESA rights as the price of receiving those minimum rights. Ontario’s ESA prohibits employees from contracting out of or waiving employment standards.
An employer can offer additional settlement money in exchange for a release. That is different from refusing to provide wages or minimum statutory amounts that are already legally required.
Can Your Employer Deduct Money From Your Final Pay?
Your employer can make lawful deductions, but it can’t simply subtract whatever amount it believes you owe.
Ontario allows certain deductions required by law, authorized by a court order or covered by a valid written authorization. Additional restrictions apply to deductions involving faulty work and losses involving cash or property.
For the detailed rules, read our guide to deductions from wages in Ontario.
Can your employer hold your final pay until you return equipment?
Your employer does not have a general right to hold your entire final paycheque until you return a laptop, phone, uniform or other property.
You should return company property you are required to return. But the employer must still comply with Ontario’s rules governing payment and deductions from wages.
What if your employer simply refuses to pay?
Refusing or delaying final wages beyond the legal deadline can violate the ESA.
See our dedicated guide to withholding pay in Ontario if your employer is holding back wages rather than disputing one particular calculation.
Is Final Pay the Same as Severance Pay?
No. Final pay and your full severance entitlement are not the same thing.
Final pay usually deals with amounts that must be paid through payroll when employment ends. Severance involves the separate compensation owed because the employer ended the employment relationship.
Ontario employment standards establish minimum termination and statutory severance rights. Those minimums are not necessarily the full amount a non-unionized employee can receive. Ontario’s own guidance recognizes that employees can have greater common-law rights.
Unless an enforceable employment contract validly limits your rights, your full severance can be based on factors including your age, position, length of service and the availability of similar employment.
Depending on those factors, severance can reach 24 months’ pay in appropriate cases.
Read our guide to severance pay in Ontario or our explanation of termination pay vs. severance pay in Ontario.
Should you cash your final paycheque?
Receiving money that is already owed does not automatically mean you have accepted the employer’s entire severance offer.
The more important risk is signing a release, settlement or other document that says you are giving up further claims. Review those documents before signing them.
What Should You Do If Your Final Pay Is Missing or Wrong?
Check the calculation, document what is missing and raise the problem in writing promptly.
Take these steps:
- Review your final pay statement. Compare it with your hours worked, salary, vacation balance and compensation records.
- Check the deadline. Confirm the later of seven days after your employment ended and your next regular payday.
- Separate each missing amount. Identify wages, overtime, vacation pay, commissions, bonuses, termination pay and statutory severance separately.
- Keep your documents. Preserve your employment contract, pay stubs, schedules, commission plans, bonus plans, termination letter and severance offer.
- Ask for a written explanation. Tell the employer what appears to be missing and ask when it will be corrected.
- Don’t sign a release to solve a payroll problem. Review your full termination rights first.
- Get advice before choosing a legal process. If you were terminated, an unpaid-wage issue can overlap with a much larger wrongful dismissal or severance claim.
Can you file an Employment Standards claim for unpaid final pay?
Yes. Ontario’s Employment Standards claim process can be used to pursue qualifying unpaid wages and minimum statutory entitlements. ESA claims generally have a two-year filing deadline from the alleged violation.
But be careful if you were fired. Ontario law restricts pursuing a Ministry claim and a civil action for the same termination-pay or severance-pay matter. Choosing the wrong process before assessing your broader rights can limit what you pursue later.
Is your Record of Employment part of final pay?
No. Your Record of Employment (ROE) is a separate federal employment record, not part of your final wages.
If your job has ended and your ROE is missing or incorrect, read our guide to the Record of Employment in Ontario.
Your employer must account for the money you earned when your employment ends. But a final paycheque only answers part of the question if you were fired. You also need to know whether your termination package reflects your full legal rights.
The Ontario employment lawyers at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP help non-unionized employees review missing final wages, vacation pay, commissions, termination pay and severance packages. We can determine whether your final pay is correct and whether additional compensation is owed because your employment ended.
If your final pay is late, incomplete or accompanied by a severance release, contact Samfiru Tumarkin LLP before signing away your rights or choosing a legal claim.