What are my rights if I am fired?

Your employer does not have to tell you why you are being fired or laid off permanently. But in most cases, your employer must give you notice in writing.

There are 2 ways that an employer can give you notice:

Your employer can tell you that they will be letting you go on a day in the future. You are expected to work until that day. This is called “working notice”.
Or, your employer can let you go right away. But they have to pay you the money you would have earned if they had given you working notice. This money is called “termination pay”or “pay in lieu of notice”.

ESA notice periods

The ESA has rules about the minimum or least amount of notice employers must give. If you worked less than 3 months, an employer does not have to give you any notice.

If you worked for:	You should get at least:
3 months but less than 1 year	1 week
1 year but less than 3 years	2 weeks
3 years but less than 4 years	3 weeks
4 years but less than 5 years	4 weeks
5 years but less than 6 years	5 weeks
6 years but less than 7 years	6 weeks
7 years but less than 8 years	7 weeks
8 years but less than 9 years	8 weeks

The Ministry of Labour can enforce only these minimum notice periods. If you want more than this, you have to sue your employer in court.

If an employer fires 50 or more workers within 4 weeks, the minimum notice periods might be different. If this applies to you, get legal advice.

Getting more than minimum notice

To get more than minimum notice, you must take your employer to court. What you can get depends on your situation.

Here are some examples of why you might get more notice:

You worked for the employer for a long time.
Finding a similar job will be very difficult.
Your job was very specialized.
The employer convinced you to leave another job when they hired you.
You are an older worker.

And you might have the right to even more money if, for example, the employer:

broke laws, such as human rights laws, when they fired you
fired you in a way that was cruel or insensitive
fired you for an unfair reason, for example, they believed you did something bad and you did not
fired you because you did something that the ESA says you have a right to do
fired you because you raised concerns about health and safety in your workplace

Talk to a lawyer who knows employment law about how much notice you might be able to get. See Where can I get help and information? for where to get legal help.

With a lawyer’s help, you might be able to agree on the amount with your employer. Or a lawyer may be able to help you sue your employer in court.

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