# Severance check ## Get an answer with one URL Fetch this. It returns a real answer as markdown, with every step cited and a signed receipt: https://mithril.law/employment/severance-check.md?endedHow=let_go_without_cause&endDate=2026-09-01&yearsOfService=10&monthsOfService=11&age=45&role=staff&pay.kind=salary&pay.annualSalary=104000&payroll=yes&hasBenefits=true&terminationClause=no&workingNoticeWeeks=0&massTermination=no&businessClosure=no That URL uses the worked example's facts. For the person's own answer, put their facts in the query string the same way (dotted names, one parameter per fact). If a fact is missing or unclear, the answer lists it with the next URL to fetch. The same answer as JSON: https://mithril.law/api/v1/operations/employment.severance_check/run?endedHow=let_go_without_cause&endDate=2026-09-01&yearsOfService=10&monthsOfService=11&age=45&role=staff&pay.kind=salary&pay.annualSalary=104000&payroll=yes&hasBenefits=true&terminationClause=no&workingNoticeWeeks=0&massTermination=no&businessClosure=no No sign-in needed. What an Ontario employee is owed when a job ends: the ESA minimum, an estimate of the common-law range, the employer’s offer against both, and the deadlines. Call when a person in Ontario has lost their job or is about to. Ask, in this order: how the job ended; the last day; the first day (or years and months of service); their age; their role; their pay; whether the employer's total payroll is CAD 2.5 million or more (unsure is a fine answer); whether they had benefits; whether their contract says what they get when the job ends; whether any listed exemption may apply; and any offer. The ESA figures are exact for the facts given. The common-law range is an estimate of the range courts have used, never a prediction; say so when you repeat it. When the boundary is needs_lawyer, offer the listed actions instead of advising. When it is automated, the next step is the demand letter (employment.demand_letter). ## Facts - `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) ## Price Free. Preview: a lawyer has not yet verified every rule behind this tool. ## The law behind it - The employer's offer (unverified): The offer is the amount entered, or the weeks of pay offered times the regular weekly wage. It is compared with the ESA minimum and with the common-law range, whose ends are raised to the ESA minimum when the minimum is higher. Below the ESA minimum: 'below the ESA minimum'. Otherwise below the low end: 'below the common-law range'. Up to the high end: 'within'. Above it: 'above'. The gaps are the ESA minimum less the offer and the low end less the offer, never below zero. When the offer requires a release, the check says a release cannot take away the ESA minimum (s. 5(1)). - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 5: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Render v. ThyssenKrupp Elevator (Canada) Limited, 2022 ONCA 310: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2022/2022ONCA0310.htm - 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 - 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 - Who the ESA figures cover, and exemptions (unverified): The check gives no figures, and sends the person to a lawyer, when the person says any of these may apply: the employer is federally regulated (ESA s. 3(2)); the work was not done in Ontario (s. 3(1)); or an exemption in O. Reg. 288/01 ss. 2(1) and 9(1): a fixed term or task; a temporary layoff; wilful misconduct, disobedience or wilful neglect of duty; frustration of the contract; refusing reasonable alternative work, directly or through seniority; not returning from a layoff when recalled; a strike or lockout, or a closure caused by one; construction or on-site maintenance work; the employer's usual retirement age; retiring on an unreduced pension; or shipbuilding under a supplementary unemployment benefit plan. It does the same when the person is not sure whether one applies. It also gives no figures when the job ended some other way than the employer ending it, such as a resignation or retirement, because the ESA minimum is owed when the employer terminates or severs the employment (ss. 56(1), 63(1)). - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 3: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 55: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 56: 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. 64: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - O. Reg. 288/01 (Termination and Severance of Employment), s. 2: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/010288 - O. Reg. 288/01 (Termination and Severance of Employment), s. 9: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/010288 - Length of service (unverified): With a start date, service runs from the first day to the last day in completed years, completed months and leftover days: the largest number of whole months whose anniversary falls on or before the last day, then the days after it. A month from the 31st ends on the last day of a shorter month, so January 31 to February 29 is one month. Service is never rounded up. Without a start date, the years and months the person enters are used as completed years and months. The last day is the last day of employment; for a layoff, the person is asked for the first day of the layoff (ESA s. 56(5)). - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 57: 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. 56: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Mass terminations (unverified): When the person says 50 or more people at the establishment lost their jobs within four weeks, or is not sure, the check flags that s. 58 may require longer notice: 8 weeks for 50 to 199 people, 12 weeks for 200 to 499, 16 weeks for 500 or more (O. Reg. 288/01, s. 3(1)), unless the terminations are no more than 10% of the employees there with at least 3 months' service and were not caused by closing part of the business (s. 3(4)). The longer period is not added; the figures keep the s. 57 notice, and the person is sent to a lawyer. - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 58: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - O. Reg. 288/01 (Termination and Severance of Employment), s. 3: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/010288 - 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 - Regular wages for a regular work week (unverified): The regular weekly wage is: a yearly salary divided by 52; or an hourly rate times the regular weekly hours, counting no more than 44 hours because hours above 44 are overtime (s. 22(1)) and a regular work week leaves out overtime hours (s. 1(1)); or, for pay that changes week to week, the average regular pay for the weeks worked in the 12 weeks before the job ended, as the person gives it (ss. 60(2), 61(1.1), 65(6)). Regular commissions are added to a salary or hourly wage: the commissions earned in the last 12 weeks divided by 12, or a year's commissions divided by 52, which is marked as an estimate. Commissions are wages (North, para. 12). Amounts keep full precision and are rounded to the cent only at the end. - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 1(1): https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 22(1): 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. 61: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 65: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - North v. Metaswitch Networks Corporation, 2017 ONCA 790: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2017/2017ONCA0790.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 - Deadline to sue (unverified): The last day to start a lawsuit is the second anniversary of the day the claim is presumed discovered (Limitations Act, 2002, ss. 4, 5(2)), taken as the earlier of the day the person was told the job was ending and the last day of the job. The anniversary of February 29 in a year without one is February 28, the earlier reading. Status: 'passed' after that day, 'under 90 days' when fewer than 90 days remain, otherwise 'open', counted from today's date in Ontario. Things that can move the date are listed, not calculated: a later discovery (s. 5(1)), incapacity (s. 7), an agreement to have an independent third party help resolve the claim (s. 11), an agreement to suspend or extend the period (s. 22(3)) and, for a constructive dismissal, an earlier day of the change. - Limitations Act, 2002, s. 4: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/02l24 - Limitations Act, 2002, s. 5: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/02l24 - Limitations Act, 2002, s. 7: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/02l24 - Limitations Act, 2002, s. 11: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/02l24 - Limitations Act, 2002, s. 22: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/02l24 - Deadline for an ESA complaint, and the choice between a complaint and a lawsuit (unverified): A complaint about a contravention more than two years old is deemed not filed (ESA s. 96(3)), so the last day to file is the second anniversary of the last day of employment. The check also says the person must choose: filing a complaint for termination or severance pay bars a wrongful dismissal lawsuit about the same termination unless the complaint is withdrawn within two weeks (s. 97(2), (4)), and starting a wrongful dismissal lawsuit bars the complaint (s. 98(2)). - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 96: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 97: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 98: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - When the severance check stops for a lawyer (unverified): The check sends the person to a lawyer (needs_lawyer) when any of these is true: an exemption may apply or the job ended some other way than the employer ending it (no figures are given); the employer says it was for cause; the person says it was a constructive dismissal; it was a layoff; the contract has or may have a termination clause; severance depends on an unknown payroll or closure; 50 or more people may have lost their jobs within four weeks; the offer is below the ESA minimum or below the common-law range; or the deadline to sue has passed or is less than 90 days away. The actions offered are the termination clause check (when there is or may be a clause), a consultation, and handing the matter to Mithril Law. Otherwise the result is automated, with the demand letter and the handoff as next actions. - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 56: 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. 64: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 58: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00e41 - Render v. ThyssenKrupp Elevator (Canada) Limited, 2022 ONCA 310: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2022/2022ONCA0310.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 - Limitations Act, 2002, s. 4: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/02l24 ## 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.severance_check/runs` with `{ "input": { … } }`, or `GET https://mithril.law/api/v1/operations/employment.severance_check/run?…`. Schema: https://mithril.law/api/v1/operations/employment.severance_check. - MCP: tool `employment_severance_check` at https://mithril.law/mcp. - The page for people: https://mithril.law/employment/severance-check.