Ontario termination and severance pay calculator
Work out the Employment Standards Act minimums when you end someone’s employment without cause: weeks of notice or termination pay, severance pay if it applies, vacation pay on top, and the date it’s all due. Everything is worked out in your browser.
Email yourself this calculation
Ending someone’s employment?
Prodigy Suite writes the termination letter with these amounts worked out from their profile, runs the offboarding checklist (final pay, the Record of Employment, benefits, equipment) and keeps the signed copy. Have an employment lawyer review the letter before you give it.
Questions about termination and severance pay
How much notice does the ESA require in Ontario?
None in the first three months. Then one week under one year, two weeks under three years, and one week for each completed year after that, up to eight weeks. You can give the notice in writing, pay termination pay instead, or combine the two.
Who gets severance pay in Ontario?
An employee with five or more years of employment, if the employer’s global payroll is $2.5 million or more, or if 50 or more people are let go within six months because all or part of the business at an establishment closes. It’s one week of regular wages per year of employment, with part-weeks for partial years, up to 26 weeks.
When is termination and severance pay due?
By the later of seven days after the employment ends and the employee’s next regular pay day. Severance can be paid in instalments over up to three years only with the employee’s written agreement or the Director of Employment Standards’ approval.
Is vacation pay owed on termination pay?
Yes. Vacation pay (4%, or 6% after five years) is earned on termination pay, but not on severance pay.
Is this all I owe?
Not necessarily. These are the Employment Standards Act minimums. Unless a valid termination clause in their contract limits them to the ESA, many employees are owed much more under the common law. Speak to an Ontario employment lawyer before ending someone’s employment.
Based on the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ss. 54–66) and O. Reg. 288/01, checked October 15, 2026. Prodigy Suite is not a law firm; this is information, not legal advice.