When an employee is terminated without cause in Ontario, their employer must let them know that their employment will end at a future date and give a notice of termination. This notice can either be a working notice or pay in lieu of notice, otherwise known in Ontario as termination pay.

Generally, employees prefer to receive termination pay, as it allows them to continue receiving wages. Most employers also prefer this because it allows them to move on quickly.

But, on certain occasions, an employee will be given notice.

Working Notice

When an employee receives notice in Ontario, they are told that their employment will end on some future date. The employee is then expected to continue working until that future date, at which point their employment will come to an end. The purpose of giving notice is to give the employee time to search for other employment.

Working notice can be extremely beneficial for employers. Instead of giving dismissed employees a proper severance payout, notice allows employers to continue to use the employee’s services. Furthermore, working notice is a very useful litigation strategy. A dismissed employee has a duty to mitigate by searching for and accepting comparable employment. An employee who turns down working notice and then sues the employer for wrongful dismissal may be found to have failed in their duty to mitigate.

You Are Probably Owed More Notice

There is a good chance that the working notice that you have been given is not adequate. In most cases, employees are owed significantly more compensation even after their working notice has ended. This is because employees are often entitled to common law notice, which requires that an employee be given notice that is “reasonable.”

Contact Us Today

You may be owed significantly more compensation. Employees may be owed as much as 24 months of notice in Ontario. Fill out the free consultation form below so we can determine what notice is reasonable in your case.