This Service is Available in: Ontario British Columbia Alberta

What You Need to Know About Severance Pay and Severance Packages

If you are a non-unionized employee in Ontario, BC or Alberta, and have been terminated or dismissed without cause, you are generally entitled to notice of termination, or pay in lieu of notice. The term “pay in lieu of notice” is also known as severance pay, termination pay, a severance package, or a layoff package.

At Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, our Toronto severance lawyers, Vancouver severance lawyers, Ottawa severance lawyers and Calgary severance lawyers can help you determine if the severance package you have been offered by your employer is fair. Documents that outline severance packages can often be intimidating, and extremely difficult to assess whether the severance offer is adequate. Often times, they fall far short of the amount that you are truly owed upon termination. A wrongful dismissal occurs when your employer fails to provide enough severance pay – that’s where we come in.

During a consultation, our severance pay lawyers will take the time to gather information about you, your job, the company, your compensation and the events leading up to termination. We will then tell you what your severance package should contain, allowing you to compare our assessment with what you have actually been offered by the company.

Use our Severance Pay Calculator to get an estimate on the amount of common law severance pay you are owed, however you should always speak to one of our lawyers directly to ensure that you understand your situation correctly.

Do not sign a severance offer without seeking legal advice! Employers will often try to convince a terminated employee that their first offer is fair. This is usually not the case. Continue reading to find out more about your employment rights where severance pay is concerned. Contact one of our Toronto employment lawyers, an employment lawyer in Vancouver, an Ottawa employment lawyer or an employment lawyer in Calgary to get a severance pay consultation.

Learn more about Severance Pay in:

ONTARIO Alberta B.C.


WATCH: Employment lawyer Lior Samfiru explains everything you need to know about severance pay on an episode of the Employment Law Show.


 

What You Need to Know About Severance Pay in Ontario, BC and Alberta

  • Severance Offer Deadlines

    If your employer has imposed a deadline on a severance package offer, your best course of action is to ignore it. Your legal rights to termination pay do not expire after 24 hours, 3 days, or even 2 weeks! Severance offer deadlines are a pressure tactic to make you accept a poor offer.
  • "One Week Per Year" Myth

    There is no "one week per year of service" rule of thumb when calculating severance pay. Use Canada's Severance Pay Calculator to find out how much you might be owed.
  • Talk to our Severance Package Lawyers First

    Never sign back a severance offer without seeking legal advice. Before you sign, call us to make sure you have been offered a fair severance package.
  • Ministry of Labour/Employment Standards Branch

    Do not call the Ministry of Labour or Employment Standards Branch for advice on severance pay! These options can only help you with MINIMUM severance entitlements under the employment standards act. An employment lawyer can help you obtain MAXIMUM severance pay under common law.

    Once you file a claim with the Ministry of Labour (Not the Branch), you waive your right to use one of our skilled employment lawyers.
  • Termination For Cause

    Poor job performance. Bad economy. Late once too often. Employers may use a Termination for Cause in an attempt to avoid paying severance. In most cases, those just cause dismissals are not legitimate, and full severance pay is still owed.
  • Calculating Severance Pay

    The main factors that make up a severance package are age, salary, length of service, employability, benefits, commission, bonus, car allowance, pension, stock options. Learn more about how to calculate severance pay.
  • 2-year Limitation Period

    Under common law, you have 2 years from the moment of termination to pursue full severance pay from your former employer.
  • Employment Contracts

    The employment contract you signed when accepting the job may contain a termination clause that impacts the amount of severance you are owed upon termination.

Let go from your job?

Contact one of Canada's most experienced and trusted employment law firms to find out how much severance pay you are actually owed.

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Areas Served in Ontario

Ajax Guelph Mississauga Scarborough
Aurora Hamilton Nepean Sudbury
Barrie Kanata Oakville Toronto
Belleville Kawartha Lakes Orleans Brampton
Kingston Oshawa Vanier Brantford
Kitchener & Waterloo Ottawa Vaughan Burlington
Lindsay Peterborough Whitby Cambridge
London Pickering Windsor Georgetown
Markham Richmond Hill Gloucester Milton
Sarnia

Areas Served in British Columbia

Abbotsford Burnaby Campbell River Chilliwack
Coquitlam Courtenay Cranbrook Delta
Kamloops Langley Maple Ridge New Westminster
North Vancouver Port Coquitlam Port Moody Richmond
Surrey Vancouver Vernon Victoria
West Vancouver

Areas Served in Alberta

Airdrie Banff Beaumont Brooks
Calgary Camrose Canmore Chestermere
Edmonton Fort McMurray Fort Saskatchewan Grande Prairie
Lacombe Leduc Lethbridge Lloydminster
Medicine Hat Okotoks Red Deer Spruce Grove
St. Albert Wetaskiwin

Questions About Severance Pay

We have compiled a quick list of questions about or related to severance pay, below. We also take a provincial look at severance packages through our resources for Ontario, Alberta and BC. If you still have a questions about your termination rights, please email us directly at Help@EmploymentLawyer.ca for answers.

Can my employer choose to give me advance notice of termination instead of severance pay?

When it comes to firing an employee, the employer can go with one of three options:

  1. Provide the employee with working notice. The employee is told that they will be let go from their job at a later date, which could be weeks, months or even a year later.
  2. Give the employee pay in lieu of notice. Instead of advance notice of the termination, the employee is provided a severance package.
  3. Give a combination of both notice and pay.

If your employer decides to provide you with working notice instead of severance pay, you should contact our employment law team. There is a good chance that the working notice is not long enough, and that severance pay is still required at the end of the notice period.

Is it better to quit or get fired?

Employees in Canada are not entitled to severance pay if they quit their job. However, if they are constructively dismissed, they can collect severance pay.

If you quit your job, you will not be entitled to Employment insurance (EI) unless, again, you experienced a constructive dismissal. EI is only available to employees who are fired.

Can severance pay be paid over a period of time?

The employer can choose whether to provide severance pay over a period of time (known as salary continuance) or in a lump sum. The employment & labour lawyers at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP often negotiate a payment method that benefits their clients.

Are federally regulated bank employees owed severance pay?

Yes. Federally regulated bank employees are entitled to full, common law severance pay. Find out more about severance for specific banks:

What is a fair severance package in Canada?

A fair severance package in Canada is one that takes into account multiple factors, including the person’s age, position at the company, length of service and ability to find new employment.

Severance pay by company

Our firm has created a comprehensive resource to help you understand severance pay rights, as they relate to different companies across Canada.

Severance pay by job

At Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, we understand that losing your job can be a stressful and uncertain time. That’s why we’ve created a comprehensive resource to help you understand how severance pay works for different non-unionized jobs in Canada.

Resources About Severance

Explore some of our past blogs and episodes from the Employment Law Show related to severance pay in Ontario, BC and Alberta.

Pocket Employment Lawyer

Before you call an employment lawyer, use the Pocket Employment Lawyer to determine if your employment law rights have been violated, and what you should do about it.

Use the Pocket Employment Lawyer

Severance Pay Calculator

The accurate, anonymous and FREE severance pay calculator tool that has been used by over 1,000,000 people to calculate their possible severance package in Ontario, BC and Alberta.

Use the Severance Pay Calculator

Blog

Employment Law November 11th, 2016

How to Calculate Severance Pay

By David Vaughan

There are a lot of myths about how to calculate severance pay in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. Find out how to…

Read Article
View Blog

Blog

Employment Law August 12th, 2016

Common Misconceptions About Severance Pay

By Lior Samfiru

This article helps clear-up some of the most common misunderstandings that terminated employees have about their entitlements and severance pay.

Read Article
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Blog

future shop closing
Employment Law March 30th, 2015

Future Shop Layoffs: Your Rights to Severance Pay

By Lior Samfiru

Future Shop employees showed up to work on Saturday to find out the company had closed. What does this mean for the…

Read Article
View Blog

See What Our Clients Are Saying

I was wrongfully terminated after 4 years on the job. After doing some research, trying their Severance Pay Calculator and watching The Employment Law Show, I reached out to Samfiru Tumarkin LLP and I'm sure glad I did. They got me a very fair settlement in what I consider to be a very short amount of time. Great work!
Sean D.
  • 5 / 5
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I called Samfiru Tumarkin LLP after listening to their employment law segments on the radio. Gurlal Kler made my mom feel valued and respected. He understood the struggle of a 62 year old being let go. Gurlal was able to get much more that wait was originally offered, plus the employer paid some of the legal fee.
Jujhar S.
  • 5 / 5
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I had the pleasure of working with Andrew Goldberg, who helped me with my severance package. The end result that he achieved was beyond my expectations and I was very pleased as it will go a long way with providing financial security for me and my family. Overall it was a very stress-free and amicable experience. I would highly recommend Samfiru Tumarkin LLP.
Jameel S.
  • 5 / 5
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I am very grateful to have obtained the services from your firm for my recent severance settlement! I contacted Melanie Henriques and she was very prompt and professional in dealing with my matter. I would definitely recommend her and the legal services from Samfiru Tumarkin for any legal employment concerns.
Sandra C.
  • 5 / 5
Review from
I only have the most positive things to say about David Vaughan from Samfiru Tumarkin. It is always stressful when you have to deal with severance package questions but David provided wise counsel and great advice. He was extremely responsive walking me through the process, so that any outstanding issues could be resolved quickly.
Lee Ann S.
  • 5 / 5
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