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Employment Standards Act

Severance Pay Calculator

Estimate the minimum notice, termination pay and severance pay Ontario’s Employment Standards Act gives when a job ends.

1Your job
Count all your time with this employer, even with breaks (s. 65(2)): use your first start date.
The date of termination. If you worked out a notice period, its last day.
Regular wages only: no overtime, vacation pay or holiday pay.
Weeks of written working notice before your last day. Enter 0 if you were let go on the spot or paid instead of notice.
Severance pay is only owed by an employer with a payroll of $2.5 million or more, or when 50 or more employees lose their jobs within six months because all or part of the business closes (s. 64(1)).
ESA minimums

Enter your dates and regular pay to see the estimate.

Good to know
  • These are the minimums the ESA guarantees. An employment contract, or a court claim for wrongful dismissal, can give more: the ESA doesn't take away an employee's civil remedies (s. 8(1)). But a claim to the Ministry and a lawsuit about the same termination can't both go ahead (ss. 97 and 98).
  • Some employees aren't entitled, for example: wilful misconduct, disobedience or wilful neglect of duty that isn't trivial and wasn't condoned; construction employees; a fixed term or task of 12 months or less that ended as agreed; a temporary lay-off; or refusing reasonable alternative work (O. Reg. 288/01, ss. 2 and 9).
  • If 50 or more employees lose their jobs at one establishment within four weeks, longer notice applies: 8, 12 or 16 weeks depending on the number (s. 58; O. Reg. 288/01, s. 3).
  • Severance pay is one week's regular wages for each year of employment, plus a part-year for completed months, up to 26 weeks (s. 65(1) and (5)).
  • A claim to the Ministry has to be filed within two years. The Limitation Period Calculator works out the date.
Official sources · checked November 3, 2026

Checked against the worked examples in the province's guide to the ESA (Sarah, Gerry, Susan and Kwesi).

Estimates only, from the dates and pay you enter. This is general information about the Employment Standards Act, not legal advice. It doesn’t cover contract or common-law entitlements, special rules for some industries, or employees the regulations exclude.

General information only, not legal advice. Read our online tools policy

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