These are two separate ESA entitlements with different eligibility rules:
- Termination pay is pay in lieu of notice — available to any employee with 3+ months of service who is terminated without cause. It ranges from 1 to 8 weeks based on completed years of service.
- Severance pay under ESA s. 64 requires both 5+ years of service AND either a payroll of $2.5M+ or a mass termination of 50+ employees at a single establishment. It can be up to 26 weeks. See OntarioSeverancePayCalc.ca.
An employee can be entitled to both termination pay and severance pay — they stack, not replace each other.
The ESA notice-week table under s. 57 caps at 8 weeks for employees with 8 or more years of service. This is the statutory minimum. Common-law reasonable notice can be significantly higher — often months or even over a year depending on age, position, and length of service. This calculator does not estimate common-law notice. Consult an employment lawyer for your full entitlement.
Under CRA rules, wages in lieu of termination notice are employment income — not a retiring allowance. This means CPP and EI premiums must be deducted just like regular pay. Income tax is calculated using the CRA bonus method (T4032 annualisation). This is confirmed by the CRA guidance at Wages in lieu of termination notice.
A retiring allowance — which is a different category — would have no CPP or EI. But termination pay is not a retiring allowance.
Employers can provide written working notice instead of pay in lieu of notice — or a combination of both. Enter the number of working notice weeks already provided in the "Working Notice Weeks" field. The calculator deducts those weeks from your ESA notice entitlement and only calculates termination pay on the remaining balance.
Yes. Check the "Mass termination" box and select the number of employees terminated. When 50 or more employees are terminated within a 4-week window, the ESA overrides the standard notice-week table with higher minimums: 8 weeks (50–199 employees), 12 weeks (200–499), or 16 weeks (500+). Your employer must also file Form 1 with the Director of Employment Standards.
Under the ESA, when employment ends, the employer owes vacation pay on the termination pay itself — at 4% for employees with less than 5 years of service or 6% for those with 5+ years. This is a separate line item because it is calculated on top of termination pay, not included in it. Any unused accrued vacation is yet another separate payout. All three are displayed independently and never merged.
Select "No Regular Work Week" as your wage type. The ESA requires calculating your weekly wage as the average of your regular wages over the prior 12 weeks in which you actually worked — excluding weeks where you did not work. Enter that average in the calculator. Overtime, vacation pay, public holiday pay, and premium pay are excluded from "regular wages" under the ESA.
Wilful misconduct, disobedience, or neglect of duty that is not trivial disqualifies ESA termination pay. However, "cause" is very narrowly defined under the ESA. Poor performance, honest mistakes, absenteeism with a medical reason, or minor policy violations typically do not qualify as wilful misconduct. This calculator cannot make this determination — if you were told you were fired "for cause," consult an employment lawyer to understand whether the ESA exclusion actually applies.
No. Federally regulated employees — those working in banking, telecommunications, interprovincial transportation, and other federal jurisdictions — are covered by the Canada Labour Code, not the Ontario ESA. The termination provisions and notice periods are different. This calculator applies only to employees covered by the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000.
Results are estimates based on the CRA bonus method and the data you enter. Actual withholding may differ if:
- Your employer uses different YTD tracking for CPP/EI annual maximums
- You have other non-refundable tax credits beyond the Basic Personal Amount
- You have RRSP deductions, pension adjustments, or other income adjustments
- Your employer's payroll system uses slightly different annualisation assumptions
Use the CRA PDOC for exact figures. This calculator is for estimation and planning purposes only.
Under ESA s. 60, your employer must continue benefit plan contributions — such as health, dental, and life insurance — for the duration of the notice period. The calculator shows the number of benefit-continuation weeks but does not assign a dollar value to the benefits, since those depend on your specific plan. This benefit continuation obligation applies regardless of whether you receive working notice or pay in lieu of notice.