When you are let go from your job in Ontario, negotiating the final dollar amount of your severance package is only half the battle. How that money is paid out to you is equally critical.
Employers typically structure severance offers in one of two ways: a lump-sum payment or salary continuance. Each option carries massive implications for your taxes, your benefits, your ability to collect Employment Insurance (EI), and what happens if you find a new job quickly.
If you make the wrong choice—or if you accept an employer’s standard offer without understanding the fine print—you could end up paying thousands of dollars in unnecessary taxes or inadvertently forfeiting months of severance pay.
Employers draft severance structures to protect their bottom line, not your financial future. Before you accept a lump sum or a salary continuance arrangement, have an Ontario employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP review the offer to ensure you are fully protected.
On This Page:
- 1. Lump Sum vs. Salary Continuance
- 2. Is Severance Pay Taxable in Ontario?
- 3. Severance Pay and EI
- 4. Maximize the Amount
- 5. How to Get What You’re Owed
Lump Sum vs. Salary Continuance: Which is Better?
When reviewing your severance offer, you need to understand exactly how the payout is structured. Here is the difference between the two standard methods:
1. The Lump-Sum Payment
A lump-sum payment is exactly what it sounds like: your employer pays out your entire severance package in one single, upfront transaction.
- The Pros: You get a clean break from your employer. The money is entirely yours immediately, meaning if you find a new job the very next day, you get to keep both your new salary and your full severance payout (often referred to as a “windfall”).
- The Cons: Receiving a massive payout all at once can push you into a significantly higher tax bracket for the year. Furthermore, your workplace health and dental benefits typically cease immediately upon termination.
2. Salary Continuance
With salary continuance, your employer keeps you on the payroll. You continue to receive your regular paycheck on your normal pay schedule (e.g., bi-weekly) for the duration of your severance notice period.
- The Pros: Your income remains steady and predictable. Most importantly, your extended health and dental benefits usually continue during this period, which is vital if you or your family rely on them.
- The Cons (The Mitigation Trap): Salary continuance almost always includes a “mitigation clause.” This clause states that if you find a new job before your salary continuance period ends, your former employer can stop paying you. For example, if you are granted 10 months of salary continuance but find a new job in month 3, you lose the remaining 7 months of severance pay.
Is Severance Pay Taxable in Ontario?
Yes. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) considers severance pay to be taxable income. Whether you receive it as a lump sum or as salary continuance, you will have to pay taxes on it.
How Salary Continuance is Taxed
If you are on salary continuance, your paychecks are taxed exactly as they were when you were actively working. Your employer will deduct income tax, CPP, and EI premiums on every pay period.
How Lump-Sum Severance is Taxed (Withholding Tax)
If you take a lump sum, your employer is legally required by the CRA to deduct a “withholding tax” at the source before giving you the check. The withholding tax rates in Ontario are:
- 10% on amounts up to $5,000
- 20% on amounts from $5,000.01 to $15,000
- 30% on amounts over $15,000
Sheltering Your Severance: The RRSP Transfer
One of the most effective ways to protect your severance from heavy taxation is to transfer it directly into a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP).
If you have sufficient available contribution room, your employer can transfer the funds directly into your RRSP without deducting the 30% withholding tax. This allows you to keep the full amount of your severance working for you, tax-deferred, until you withdraw it in retirement. An employment lawyer can ensure your severance agreement includes the proper language to legally force your employer to facilitate this transfer.
Severance Pay and Employment Insurance (EI)
Many employees wonder how their severance package will impact their ability to collect Employment Insurance (EI) benefits.
Does severance pay affect EI? Yes. Receiving a severance package will delay your EI benefits. Service Canada will allocate your severance pay over a specific period of weeks (the “allocation period”). You can’t begin receiving EI payments until that allocation period has expired.
What you must do immediately:
Regardless of whether you receive a lump sum, salary continuance, or are currently negotiating a better package with a lawyer, you must apply for EI immediately after losing your job.
If you wait longer than four weeks after your termination to apply, you risk losing your EI benefits entirely. Apply right away, report the severance you have been offered, and Service Canada will calculate when your payments should begin.
Maximize the Amount Before You Structure the Payout
Worrying about taxes and salary continuance clauses only makes sense if you are getting the full amount of money you are legally owed in the first place.
Most employers offer only the bare minimum required by the Employment Standards Act (ESA) when they terminate an employee. However, under Ontario common law, your true severance entitlement is based on your age, length of service, and position, and can provide up to 24 months of full pay.
Get What You Are Actually Owed
Do not let confusing legal jargon, mitigation clauses, or tax fears pressure you into signing an unfair severance package. If you have been offered a lump sum or salary continuance, the Ontario employment lawyers at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP can step in.
We will review your employment contract, assess your true common law entitlements, and negotiate the structure of your payout to ensure your financial security is maximized and protected from unnecessary tax burdens.
As Canada’s largest and most positively reviewed employee-side employment law firm, we know how to turn low severance offers into maximum payouts.
Contact Us Today
If you have lost your job, time is of the essence. Let us secure the compensation you deserve.