This page turns the statutory rules into a quick estimate by years of service, measured in weeks or days of regular pay. Multiply the weeks by your regular weekly wage to get a dollar figure. It covers Ontario and federally regulated employers, the two regimes that add statutory severance pay on top of notice, and shows common-law ranges as a comparison, not as an amount you are owed.
Ontario estimate
Termination pay is the pay in lieu of notice that the Employment Standards Act sets. Severance pay is a separate payment, owed when you have at least 5 years with the employer and the employer has a global payroll of at least $2.5 million (or severed 50 or more employees in six months because all or part of the business closed). It is one week of regular wages per year of employment, prorated for a partial year, to a maximum of 26 weeks.
| Years of service | Termination pay (weeks) | Severance pay if eligible (weeks) | Statutory total (weeks) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 2 | None | 2 |
| 3 years | 3 | None | 3 |
| 5 years | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| 10 years | 8 | 10 | 18 |
| 15 years | 8 | 15 | 23 |
| 20 years | 8 | 20 | 28 |
If you work through your notice instead of receiving termination pay, the termination-pay column becomes working notice and only the severance column is paid out.
Federal estimate (Canada Labour Code)
Federally regulated employers (banks, airlines, telecoms, interprovincial trucking and similar) owe notice or pay in lieu of at least 2 weeks, rising to one week per completed year from 3 years of service, to a maximum of 8 weeks. After 12 consecutive months, a layoff or dismissal for lack of work or the end of a function also brings severance pay: the greater of 2 days’ wages per full year of service or 5 days’ wages.
| Years of service | Notice or pay in lieu (weeks) | Severance pay (days of wages) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 2 | 5 |
| 3 years | 3 | 6 |
| 5 years | 5 | 10 |
| 10 years | 8 | 20 |
| 20 years | 8 | 40 |
Federally regulated employees with 12 months of service can also bring an unjust dismissal complaint, covered in the wrongful dismissal guide.
Other provinces
British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec set notice or pay in lieu on their own scales by length of service. Those tables, alongside Ontario’s and the federal scale, are in the notice period guide by province.
How common-law notice compares
If your employment contract doesn’t validly limit you to the statutory minimums, a court can award reasonable notice based on your age, length of service, the character of the job and how easy similar work is to find. Awards are measured in months rather than the weeks above and vary case by case. The bands courts have tended to award, and how they reach them, are on the severance pay guide, along with what a package usually includes and how severance is taxed.
What the estimate leaves out
- Pay beyond base wages. Statutory termination and severance pay use regular wages; a common-law award can also cover bonus, commission and the value of benefits over the notice period.
- Hours cuts and layoffs. A temporary layoff that runs past the allowed length, or a large cut to your hours, can count as a termination; see what to do when your employer reduces your hours.
- Unpaid amounts. If the employer doesn’t pay what the Act requires, an employment standards complaint can recover it.
More on your rights when a job ends is in the workplace rights hub.
Sources
The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them on October 6, 2026. How we check facts.
- Government of Canada: Termination, layoff or dismissal
- Government of Canada: Federally regulated employees
- Government of Ontario: Severance pay | Your guide to the Employment Standards Act
- Government of Ontario: Termination of employment | Your guide to the Employment Standards Act