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Termination and Severance Pay Calculator: Canada, Every Province and Territory

How much severance pay is required in Canada?

Every jurisdiction requires notice or pay in lieu, usually 1 week after about 3 months' service and up to 8 weeks (6 in Newfoundland and Labrador). Separate severance pay exists only in Ontario (1 week per year, up to 26 weeks, after 5 years with a CAD 2.5 million payroll) and federally (2 days' wages per year, minimum 5 days). These are minimums; common-law reasonable notice is often far higher.

Most severance calculators online are law-firm estimates of common-law notice in Ontario or BC. This one does the statutory minimum, correctly, for all 14 jurisdictions, including the 2026 changes: PEI's new Act from 30 June 2026 and Saskatchewan's group threshold of 25.

Choose the jurisdiction, enter the dates and the weekly wage, and see the notice, any statutory severance, and the group termination rule.

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Built by Muhammad Shahzeb Anwar, MSc Industrial and Organizational Psychology. The schedules are taken from each jurisdiction's employment standards legislation, linked below.

The calculator

Your minimum entitlement

Runs in your browser. Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere.

Federal applies to federally regulated work (banks, airlines, telecoms, interprovincial transport); everyone else follows the province or territory.

Ontario severance pay test

Statutory minimum is not what a court awards

Employment standards set a floor. Outside Quebec, an employee dismissed without cause is also entitled to "reasonable notice" at common law unless a valid written contract limits them to the statutory minimum, and courts weigh age, length of service, the role and how hard it will be to find similar work. For a senior employee with long service that can be a year or more. In Quebec the Civil Code gives a similar right. This calculator gives the minimum the employer cannot go below.

Only two jurisdictions have severance pay

Ontario requires severance pay on top of notice where the employee has 5 or more years of service and the employer has a global payroll of CAD 2.5 million or more, or is severing 50 or more people within six months because of a closure: one week per year of service, with partial years counted by months, up to 26 weeks. The Canada Labour Code requires severance for federally regulated employees with 12 months' service: the greater of 2 days' wages per completed year or 5 days' wages, with no cap. No other province or territory has statutory severance.

Before you rely on this

What this will not tell you

This calculates statutory minimums from the dates and weekly wage you enter. It does not calculate common-law or civil-law notice, does not check whether a contract's termination clause is enforceable, and treats each schedule's year boundaries as stated by the regulator. Some details were not verified for New Brunswick (employee notice and week's pay) and the Northwest Territories (employee notice); PEI terminations before 30 June 2026 fall under the old Act. Vacation pay on pay in lieu and benefits continuation are not included. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

Questions

Questions people actually ask

How is severance pay calculated in Ontario?

If the employee has 5+ years and the employer's payroll is CAD 2.5 million or more (or 50+ are severed in a closure), severance is the regular weekly wage x completed years plus completed months / 12, up to 26 weeks. It is separate from, and in addition to, termination pay of up to 8 weeks.

How much notice is required in Alberta?

1 week after 90 days, 2 weeks at 2 years, 4 at 4 years, 5 at 6 years, 6 at 8 years and 8 weeks at 10 years or more (Employment Standards Code).

Is severance pay mandatory in BC?

BC has no separate statutory severance pay; it requires notice or compensation in lieu of 1 week after 3 months, 2 weeks after a year, 3 weeks after 3 years and 1 more week per year to a maximum of 8. Common-law notice can be much higher.

What is the federal severance pay rule?

Under s.235 of the Canada Labour Code, an employee with 12 months' continuous service gets the greater of 2 days' wages per completed year or 5 days' wages, in addition to notice of 2 to 8 weeks.

Do the statutory minimums cap what I can get?

No. They are a floor. Unless a valid contract limits notice to the statutory minimum, courts in common-law provinces award reasonable notice, often several months or more for long service.

Where every rule comes from

Sources

Checked against the text of the law on 16 October 2026. Laws and notified rates change; if a source below has moved on, the source wins over this page.

  1. Federal (Canada Labour Code): https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/L-2/page-32.html
  2. Ontario: https://www.ontario.ca/document/your-guide-employment-standards-act-0/termination-employment
  3. Quebec: https://www.cnesst.gouv.qc.ca/en/node/4796/section-82
  4. British Columbia: https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/00_96113_01
  5. Alberta: https://www.alberta.ca/termination-pay
  6. Saskatchewan: https://www.saskatchewan.ca/business/employment-standards/layoffs-and-termination/individual-layoff-or-termination
  7. Manitoba: https://web2.gov.mb.ca/laws/statutes/ccsm/e110.php
  8. New Brunswick: https://laws.gnb.ca/en/document/cs/E-7.2
  9. Nova Scotia: https://novascotia.ca/lae/employmentrights/employernowork.asp
  10. Prince Edward Island (Act in force 30 June 2026): https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/sites/default/files/b281/E-6.3-Employment%20Standards%20Act.pdf
  11. Newfoundland and Labrador: https://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislation/sr/statutes/l02.htm
  12. Yukon: https://yukon.ca/sites/yukon.ca/files/cs/cs-termination-of-employment-fact-sheet.pdf
  13. Northwest Territories: https://www.justice.gov.nt.ca/en/files/legislation/employment-standards/employment-standards.a.pdf
  14. Nunavut: https://www.nunavutlegislation.ca/en/file-download/download/public/7190
  15. Ontario severance pay guide: https://www.ontario.ca/document/your-guide-employment-standards-act-0/severance-pay
  16. Canada Labour Code s.235 (severance): https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/L-2/page-33.html
Citation

Cite this tool

Free to use and free to quote. If a figure here is useful in something you are writing, a link back is all that is asked.

Muhammad Shahzeb Anwar, MSc Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Termination and Severance Pay Calculator Canada. Shahzeb Speaks. https://www.shahzebspeaks.com/severance-pay-calculator-canada/

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