Severance Pay Ontario Common
If you are a non-unionized employee in Ontario, you should be entitled to severance pay if your employer terminates your employment without cause. That’s because the province’s employment standards legislation (ESA) requires employers to pay at least one week of regular wages per year of service, up to a maximum of 26 weeks of severance pay.
everance pay Ontario is typically paid in lump sum upon termination of your employment and covers all the compensation you would have received had you worked through your employer’s reasonable notice period. However, there are times when your employer will try to use a legal clause in your contract that restricts the minimum severance pay requirements of the ESA. These clauses are often not well drafted and do not take into account changes in the law.
Employers must pay out severance allotments seven days after your termination or on what would have been your next regular payday, whichever is later. However, an employer can choose to pay the severance pay portion in installments if they do so in writing and the employee agrees to this.
Is Severance Pay Ontario Common?
A severance package can include all forms of compensation such as salary, bonuses, car allowances and commissions. The only exception to this rule is that a court or your employer may have restricted what types of compensation are covered in the severance package through a carefully drafted employment contract.
An experienced Toronto severance pay lawyer can review your situation and determine how much severance you are entitled to receive under the laws of Canada. He or she can also help you enforce your rights against your former employer if your company is not paying you the amount you are legally owed.
While the minimum statutory severance pay in Ontario is one week per year of service, it is common for companies to offer a higher level of severance pay than what is mandated by law. In fact, in a recent episode of the Employment Law Show, Ontario employment lawyer Lior Samfiru explained that he can often increase a person’s severance package by tens of thousands of dollars or more.
Terminating your employment can be a frightening time and you will probably need to find another job right away. This is why severance packages are so important for employees and why an employment lawyer should be consulted when your company tries to cut corners or reduce the amount of severance you deserve. A severance package is a financial safety net that can allow you to get through this difficult time and start searching for your next career opportunity with confidence. Contact a Toronto severance pay lawyer to schedule a consultation. This will give you the opportunity to ask any questions that you might have and work with a severance package calculator to see how much you could be entitled to if your employer were to terminate your employment. This will give you the confidence you need to pursue a lawsuit for unfair dismissal or wrongful termination.
