# Demand letter ## Get an answer with one URL This tool needs facts that identify a person (names or addresses), and those never go in a URL. Three ways to get the answer: 1. Give the person the page to fill in themselves: https://mithril.law/employment/demand-letter?facts=%7B%22endedHow%22%3A%22let_go_without_cause%22%2C%22endDate%22%3A%222026-09-01%22%2C%22yearsOfService%22%3A10%2C%22monthsOfService%22%3A11%2C%22age%22%3A45%2C%22role%22%3A%22staff%22%2C%22payroll%22%3A%22yes%22%2C%22hasBenefits%22%3Atrue%2C%22terminationClause%22%3A%22no%22%2C%22workingNoticeWeeks%22%3A0%2C%22massTermination%22%3A%22no%22%2C%22businessClosure%22%3A%22no%22%2C%22responseDays%22%3A14%7D (prefilled with the facts that are safe in a link). 2. POST the facts as JSON to https://mithril.law/api/v1/operations/employment.demand_letter/runs: ```sh curl -X POST https://mithril.law/api/v1/operations/employment.demand_letter/runs -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"input":{"endedHow":"let_go_without_cause","endDate":"2026-09-01","yearsOfService":10,"monthsOfService":11,"age":45,"role":"staff","pay":{"kind":"salary","annualSalary":104000},"payroll":"yes","hasBenefits":true,"terminationClause":"no","exemptions":[],"workingNoticeWeeks":0,"massTermination":"no","businessClosure":"no","employeeName":"Alex Martin","employeeAddress":"12 Elm Street, Toronto, ON M4E 1A1","employerName":"Example Manufacturing Inc.","employerAddress":"500 Industrial Road, Mississauga, ON L5T 2B2","employerAttention":"Head of Human Resources","responseDays":14}}' ``` 3. Call the MCP tool `employment_demand_letter` at https://mithril.law/mcp. A demand letter from an Ontario employee to their former employer, with the ESA sections and the common-law claim, as DOCX and PDF. The person signs and sends it. Call after employment.severance_check, with the same facts plus the names and addresses. The letter asks for the amount the person chooses; by default, the middle of the common-law estimate or the ESA minimum if that is higher. The files are locked until the letter is paid for (price in the catalog); the result carries a free preview and document ids. The person signs and sends the letter themselves. If the facts need a lawyer (an exemption, or a job that ended some other way), no letter is produced. ## Facts - `employeeName`: As you want it signed. (text, required) - `employeeAddress`: Street, city, province and postal code. Use a new line or a comma between parts. (text, required) - `employerName`: The company’s legal name, as on your pay stubs or contract. (text, required) - `employerAddress`: Where to send the letter: street, city, province and postal code. (text, required) - `employerAttention`: The person to address it to, such as the head of human resources. Leave out if you don’t know. (text, optional) - `jobTitle`: Your title when the job ended. (text, optional) - `endedHow`: let_go_without_cause: the employer ended your job and did not say you did anything wrong. constructive_dismissal: the employer made a big change to your job (pay, duties, hours, place) or treated you so badly that you quit because of it. laid_off: the employer laid you off. fired_for_cause: the employer says you were fired for something you did. other: anything else, such as resigning or retiring. (one of: let_go_without_cause, constructive_dismissal, laid_off, fired_for_cause, other, required) - `endDate`: The last day you were employed. If you were laid off, the first day of the layoff. (date, YYYY-MM-DD, required) - `startDate`: The first day you worked there. Leave out if you don’t know it; then give your years and months of service. (date, YYYY-MM-DD, optional) - `yearsOfService`: Only if you don’t know your start date: how many full years you worked there. (whole number, optional) - `monthsOfService`: Only if you don’t know your start date: full months on top of the years. (whole number, optional) - `age`: Your age on the last day of your job. (whole number, required) - `role`: staff: you did not supervise anyone. supervisor: you supervised a team or a shift. manager: you managed people or a department. executive: you were a senior leader, such as a vice-president or officer. (one of: staff, supervisor, manager, executive, required) - `pay`: How you were paid before your job ended. (value, required) - `payroll`: yes, no, or unsure. Count the wages of all its employees, in Ontario and elsewhere. For example, 50 people earning CAD 50,000 each is a payroll of CAD 2.5 million. Severance pay depends on this. (one of: yes, no, unsure, required) - `hasBenefits`: Health, dental, life or disability insurance, or a pension or RRSP plan the employer paid into. (true or false, required) - `terminationClause`: yes if you signed a contract or offer letter with a clause about ending the job (often called termination), no if not, unsure if you don’t know. (one of: yes, no, unsure, required) - `exemptions`: Pick every one that might apply. Leave empty if none do. Any of these means a lawyer should look at your situation first. (list of one of: federal_employer, work_outside_ontario, fixed_term, temporary_layoff, wilful_misconduct, frustration, refused_alternative_work, no_return_from_layoff, strike_or_lockout, construction, retirement_age, unreduced_pension, shipbuilding, unsure (repeat the parameter for each), optional) - `offer.amount`: The total the employer offered, in Canadian dollars, before tax. (number, optional) - `offer.weeks`: If the offer was in weeks of pay rather than dollars. (number, optional) - `offer.releaseRequired`: A release is a document where you agree not to sue or claim anything more. (true or false, optional) - `workingNoticeWeeks`: If the employer told you in writing ahead of time and you kept working until the last day, how many weeks that was. Otherwise 0. (number, optional) - `toldDate`: The day you were told your job was ending, if it was before your last day. (date, YYYY-MM-DD, optional) - `massTermination`: yes, no, or unsure. Leave as no if you don’t think so. (one of: yes, no, unsure, optional) - `businessClosure`: yes, no, or unsure. This matters only if the payroll is under CAD 2.5 million. (one of: yes, no, unsure, optional) - `amountDemanded`: Leave out to use the default: the middle of the common-law estimate from the severance check, or the ESA minimum if that is higher. (number, optional) - `responseDays`: How many days the employer has to reply. You choose; 14 is common. (whole number, optional) - `letterDate`: Leave out to use today’s date. (date, YYYY-MM-DD, optional) ## Price CAD 149 plus HST. A demand letter to your former employer, prepared from your facts, with the sections it relies on. Preview: a lawyer has not yet verified every rule behind this tool. ## The law behind it - Common-law range (estimate) (unverified): An estimate, not a prediction, of the range of reasonable notice courts have used, from three of the Bardal factors (Michela, para. 13): service, age and role. The fourth, the availability of similar work, is not in it. Step 1, by completed service (years plus months divided by 12): under 1 year, 1 to 3 months; 1 to under 3 years, 2 to 6; 3 to under 6, 4 to 8; 6 to under 10, 6 to 12; 10 to under 15, 9 to 15; 15 to under 20, 12 to 18; 20 to under 25, 15 to 21; 25 or more, 18 to 24. Step 2, age on the last day: 50 to 59, add 2 months to both ends; 60 or more, add 3. Step 3, role: supervisor, add 1 to the high end; manager, add 1 to the low end and 2 to the high end; executive, add 2 and 3; staff, nothing. Step 4: neither end goes above 24 months, generally the ceiling without exceptional circumstances (Dawe, paras. 31, 42-44). The midpoint is the average of the two ends. Amounts are months times the regular weekly wage times 52 divided by 12, without benefits, bonus or vacation pay. The range includes the ESA minimum and is not added to it (Brake, para. 110). The output says it is an estimate of the range courts have used, not a prediction, and that the contract and new earnings (mitigation) can change it (Lynch, para. 16). - Michela v. St. Thomas of Villanova Catholic School, 2015 ONCA 801: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2015/2015ONCA0801.htm - Bardal v. Globe & Mail Ltd. (1960), 24 D.L.R. (2d) 140 (Ont. H.C.): https://canlii.ca/t/gghxf - Beatty v. Best Theratronics Ltd., 2015 ONCA 247: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2015/2015ONCA0247.htm - Minott v. O'Shanter Development Co. (1999), 42 O.R. (3d) 321 (C.A.): https://canlii.ca/t/1f97d - Humphrey v. Mene Inc., 2022 ONCA 531: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2022/2022ONCA0531.htm - Dawe v. The Equitable Life Insurance Company of Canada, 2019 ONCA 512: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2019/2019ONCA0512.htm - Lynch v. Avaya Canada Corporation, 2023 ONCA 696: https://canlii.ca/t/k0qrd - Currie v. Nylene Canada Inc., 2022 ONCA 209: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2022/2022ONCA0209.htm - Keenan v. Canac Kitchens Ltd., 2016 ONCA 79: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2016/2016ONCA0079.htm - Love v. Acuity Investment Management Inc., 2011 ONCA 130: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2011/2011ONCA0130.htm - Wood v. Fred Deeley Imports Ltd., 2017 ONCA 158: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2017/2017ONCA0158.htm - Brake v. PJ-M2R Restaurant Inc., 2017 ONCA 402: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2017/2017ONCA0402.htm - Demand letter: the amount asked for (unverified): The letter asks for the amount the person enters or, by default, the greater of the ESA minimum and the midpoint of the common-law estimate. An entered amount below the ESA minimum is raised to it, with a warning, because the minimum cannot be waived (s. 5(1)). The amount includes the ESA minimum and is not added to it, because an award for reasonable notice includes the statutory entitlements without double recovery (Brake, para. 110). The ESA minimum used is the part that is certain; severance pay that depends on an unknown payroll is not in it. - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 5: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Brake v. PJ-M2R Restaurant Inc., 2017 ONCA 402: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2017/2017ONCA0402.htm - Demand letter: what it says (unverified): The letter is from the person to the employer, dated the day it is made or the date given, and asks for a reply by that date plus the number of days the person chooses (14 by default; the person's deadline, not a legal one). It says how the job ended; lists the ESA minimums with their sections: termination pay (ss. 54, 57, 61(1)(a)), vacation pay on it (s. 35.2), severance pay when owed, or 'if your payroll is CAD 2.5 million or more' when not known (ss. 64(1), 65(1), and 65(4) when notice was not given), and benefit contributions for the notice period (ss. 60(1)(c), 61(1)(b)); says they are minimum standards that cannot be waived, including by a release (s. 5(1)), and that termination pay and vacation pay were due by the later of 7 days after the job ended and the next pay day (s. 11(5)); claims reasonable notice at common law, citing Bardal (p. 145) and Michela (para. 13), and, when there is or may be a termination clause, says the person does not accept that it validly limits notice, citing Waksdale (para. 10) and Machtinger (p. 1004); asks for the amount, less amounts already paid, and for the benefit contributions; answers an offer, and a release, when there is one; and says the person will consider an employment standards complaint or a claim in court. The person signs and sends it (needs_person). The Word and PDF files are stored locked, with the demand letter's price code, until it is paid for. - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 54: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 57: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 61: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 35.2: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 64: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 65: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 60: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 5: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 11(5): https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Bardal v. Globe & Mail Ltd. (1960), 24 D.L.R. (2d) 140 (Ont. H.C.): https://canlii.ca/t/gghxf - Michela v. St. Thomas of Villanova Catholic School, 2015 ONCA 801: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2015/2015ONCA0801.htm - Waksdale v. Swegon North America Inc., 2020 ONCA 391: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2020/2020ONCA0391.htm - Machtinger v. HOJ Industries Ltd., [1992] 1 SCR 986: https://canlii.ca/t/1fsd2 - Benefits during the notice period (unverified): When the person had benefits through work, the check says the employer must keep making benefit plan contributions through the statutory notice period, whether it gives working notice (s. 60(1)(c)) or pays instead of notice (s. 61(1)(b)). The number of weeks is the s. 57 notice period (none under 3 months). No dollar value is put on the benefits. - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 60: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 61: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - The ESA minimum cannot be waived (unverified): The ESA minimum is termination pay plus vacation pay on it, plus severance pay when owed. The check says it is owed whether or not the person signs a release, because an agreement to contract out of or waive an employment standard is void (s. 5(1); Render, para. 78), and that new earnings do not reduce it, because statutory entitlements are not damages and are not subject to mitigation (Brake, paras. 111, 118). Severance pay is in addition to other amounts under the Act (s. 65(7)). With an offer, the gap to the ESA minimum is the minimum less the offer, never below zero. - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 5: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 65: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Render v. ThyssenKrupp Elevator (Canada) Limited, 2022 ONCA 310: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2022/2022ONCA0310.htm - Brake v. PJ-M2R Restaurant Inc., 2017 ONCA 402: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2017/2017ONCA0402.htm - Who gets severance pay (unverified): Severance pay is owed when the period of employment is 5 or more completed years and either the employer's payroll is CAD 2.5 million or more (s. 64(1)(b)), or the person says 50 or more employees lost their jobs within six months because all or part of the business closed for good at an establishment (s. 64(1)(a)). The payroll counts the wages of all the employer's employees, in Ontario and elsewhere (s. 64(2); Hawkes, paras. 51-52). If the person is not sure about the payroll, or, with a smaller payroll, about a closure, the result is 'depends' and the amount is shown as owed if the test is met. Eligibility uses the actual period of employment; the notice period in s. 65(4) is added only to the amount. - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 64: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 63: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 65: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Hawkes v. Max Aicher (North America) Limited, 2021 ONSC 4290 (Div. Ct.): https://canlii.ca/t/jgfnn - How much severance pay (unverified): Severance pay is the regular weekly wage times the completed years plus the completed months divided by 12 (s. 65(1)), to a maximum of 26 weeks (s. 65(5)). When the employer did not give all of the s. 57 notice, the weeks not given are counted as more service (s. 65(4); Rainbow Concrete, para. 33): with a start date, as calendar days (7 a week) added to the last day; with only years and months, as whole months only, the fewest those weeks can span (weeks times 7, divided by 31, rounded down), so the figure is never overstated. Severance pay is in addition to termination pay (s. 65(7)). When severance is not owed, the amount is zero. - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 65: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Rainbow Concrete Industries Limited v. Lentir, 2012 CanLII 58233 (ON LRB): https://canlii.ca/t/ft2jd - Termination pay (unverified): Weeks of notice: none under 3 months of continuous employment (s. 54); 1 week under 1 year (s. 57(a)); 2 weeks from 1 to under 3 years (s. 57(b)); then 1 week for each completed year from 3 years, to a maximum of 8 weeks at 8 years or more (s. 57(c) to (h)). Completed years are counted on the last day of employment. Weeks of written working notice the person worked are subtracted, and the rest is termination pay: those weeks times the regular weekly wage, owed as a lump sum (s. 61(1)(a)). - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 54: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 57: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 61: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Vacation pay on termination pay (unverified): Vacation pay is added on termination pay, because termination pay is a payment the Act requires and so counts as wages (s. 1(1)): 4% if the period of employment on the last day is under 5 years, 6% at 5 years or more (s. 35.2). None is added on severance pay (Panaligan, paras. 55-56, following Cronk; Rainbow Concrete, para. 33). Vacation pay the person had already earned and not taken is owed separately; the check says so and does not calculate it. - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 35.2: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 1(1): https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Panaligan v. Mayfair Tennis Courts Limited, 2017 CanLII 9126 (ON SCSM): https://canlii.ca/t/gxpwg - Cronk v. Canadian General Insurance Co. (1995), 25 O.R. (3d) 505 (C.A.): https://canlii.ca/t/6jnb - Rainbow Concrete Industries Limited v. Lentir, 2012 CanLII 58233 (ON LRB): https://canlii.ca/t/ft2jd ## What the answer tells you - `automated`: Done: the software answered this completely. - `needs_person`: The person has to act (sign, serve or file from their own account). Pass the next steps to them. - `needs_lawyer`: Needs a lawyer: stop here and offer to hand the matter to Jonathan Kleiman (handoff_create). Do not give legal advice yourself. ## Do this through the API - REST: `POST https://mithril.law/api/v1/operations/employment.demand_letter/runs` with `{ "input": { … } }`. Schema: https://mithril.law/api/v1/operations/employment.demand_letter. - MCP: tool `employment_demand_letter` at https://mithril.law/mcp. - The page for people: https://mithril.law/employment/demand-letter.