I got a huge severance package after only 1 year at my company. That’s because of labor laws im Canada. It equates to over a year in salary.
My US counterparts didn’t get that, not sure if that 35% applies to the US, but if it does it’s much more expensive everywhere else. And yeah, all this so it looks good on paper.
Labor laws vary by province and I don’t know of any labor law that makes it an obligation to pay over a year of salary after a year of employment, the most probable reason you got that is the employment directives/your employment contract you had with your previous employer.
It’s the law in almost every Canadian province for collective layoffs. 50-100 people is like 8 weeks, then 100-200 is 12 weeks and 200 plus is 16 weeks, or something. It’s on all the provinces labor law websites. My teammates in BC and Alberta got the same type of protections from what we discussed.
They had to pay out my stocks that would have vested if I kept my notice. Then because it was a mass layoff of more than a few hundred people they had to give me 16 weeks notice, plus my schedule and accrued vacation up until then and up until the notice period ends (in 16 weeks). Meaning the have to keep me on payroll with full benefits.
To sever that and entice me to hop off payroll and benefits, they gave me an addition 3 months pay. That gives me roughly my yearly salary.
Here is the law in Quebec
It equates to over a year in salary.
50-100 people is like 8 weeks, then 100-200 is 12 weeks and 200 plus is 16 weeks, or something
Yeah so there’s a difference between the two, right? Because in one case you’re including extra that your employer paid that not everyone is entitled to and in the other it’s what the law gives you right to if the notification period isn’t respected.
And again, labor laws are provincial in the vast majority of cases, only a couple of industries use federal laws. In any case, only one set of laws apply to you, federal laws can be less than what you’re entitled to if you were working in a job under provincial laws in your province of work.
It sounds like the company has cash and they’re trying to keep up morale. Over a year of severance for employees with less than a year of employment isn’t required by Canadian law that I know of^(not that I’m super knowledgeable about labour law).
90 days is pretty standard in the US, at least with bigger companies that have to abide by the WARN Act
