2. Check the minimum notice periods

Ontario’s (ESA) has rules about minimum amount of notice employers usually need to give employees who are fired.

If you’ve worked for: You should get at least this much notice:
Less than 3 months No minimum notice
At least 3 months but less than 1 year 1 week
1 year but less than 3 years 2 weeks
3 years but less than 4 years 3 weeks
4 years but less than 5 years 4 weeks
5 years but less than 6 years 5 weeks
6 years but less than 7 years 6 weeks
7 years but less than 8 years 7 weeks
8 years but less than 9 years 8 weeks

Mass termination

If an employer fires 50 or more workers within a period of 4 weeks, the minimum notice periods might be different. This is sometimes called “mass termination”.

The rules about mass termination are for situations like a large company going out of business or a factory shutting down.

With mass termination, the amount of notice you get doesn’t depend on how long you worked for your employer but on the number of workers being fired.

Number of employees being fired:

Amount of notice:

50 to 199 employees

8 weeks

200 to 499 employees

12 weeks

500 or more employees

16 weeks

 

To find out more about your right to notice if you’re fired, use the Ontario Ministry of Labour’s online Termination Tool.

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