Fork in the road

[nancyfrank232]

Fair enough. It always depends on your local laws. I was writing only of the US situation, since the OP shows "New York" for a locale.

Good point

Canadian perspective as novelty info then

Prefaced with - this does not represent legal advice and always consult an employment lawyer. The Law Society of Upper Canada gives Canadians access to a free preliminary consult from a lawyer of their choice

https://lso.ca/public-resources/finding-a-lawyer-or-paralegal/law-society-referral-service

I thought in Canada you were only entitled to 1 week per year of service, up to 24 weeks?

You may be referring to the ESA (Ontario)

https://www.ontario.ca/document/your-guide-employment-standards-act-0

Every province is slightly different but Canada is still employee friendly

In general Canada is not an employment-at-will kind of place. Employers, especially MegaCorps will pay severance in lieu of notice. Financially this is especially beneficial for long-tenured and/or high salaried employees

The Employment Standards Act (ESI) loosely recommends 1 week of severance in lieu of notice per year of tenure, but all employment lawyers will get at least 4 weeks of severance in lieu of notice per year of tenure as per case law

The ESA is largely irrelevant and often quoted by employees who are generally ignorant about employment law in Canada

And I thought that if you went to court you could be awarded more?

Because the employment laws are so onerous for Canadian MegaCorp employers, it is extremely rare for MegaCorp lawyers to go to trial. They will settle the vast majority of time for roughly the amount previously mentioned

Canadian MegaCorps that decide to go to trial are often written up by the Canadian press because of the rarity of going to trial and for the sensationalist conclusion of employers paying for this poor decision. Readers clearly eat this kind of content up

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/rep...-job-how-about-firing-yourself/article709539/

And don't you need to be employed there 10 years to get severance if you quit?

There is no minimum employment time frame for an employee to be due their severance in lieu of notice from being wrongfully terminated. I’ve gotten anywhere from 2 months for 2 years to 9 months for 8 years

As for quitting, a Canadian employee who is highly compensated or has long tenure (or both) should never quit, resign or take another job

I never did and I have never worked 10 years for any single employer

My colleague had 32 years of tenure and was a highly compensated target of ageism, so I made sure that he fully understood how much he would forfeit by quitting or resigning

He got the full 24 months of severance in lieu of notice that he deserved. He later told me that this (over a quarter million dollars gross) was the best send-off into retirement that he could have hoped for

Also keep in mind that in Canada, receiving severance doesn’t disqualify the employee from also receiving EI benefits (max of $562 per week for 40 weeks). For employees who are FI, the combination of severance and EI can go a long way

 

[jollystomper]

At my megacorp, it all depended on your relationship with your management chain.
Under the right circumstances people would indicate to the mangler that they would volunteer for the next round of "resource actions" to get the severance package. Others would get "we don't pay good people to leave".

+1

Reasons I received my severance included (a) a good relationship with my management chain, (b)willingness to stay longer to ensure a project management wanted to get done was completed, and (c) observation that my management chain tended to be reluctant to lay people off who did not want to go.

I was also surprised, two months after leaving, to receive an additional bonus from my management chain, as a "thank you" for seeing the project through and training others to carry it forward.

Neither of these monies did I pursue, or where necessary for me to retire. But they were nice to receive.

 

[nancyfrank232]

^ in Canada, MegaCorp employers would be severely punished for this kind of discriminatory behavior

Fines, penalties and perhaps even punitive damages on top of paying severance. There’s no way in-house council in a Canadian domiciled MegaCorp would ever allow this to happen. They may even report MegaCorp to the Canadian authorities themselves

 

[nancyfrank232]

Apparently the soft maximum of 24 months of severance in lieu of notice in Canada is old news. Apparently in light of ageism against older employees, case law is showing employers being ordered to pay 26 and 27 months of severance

https://business.financialpost.com/...that-go-into-deciding-the-amount-of-severance

 

[ckelly78z]

Through bad management, worker shortages that lead to late deliveries, angry clients that pull their business, and overly competitive environment in the auto industry, my Megacorp might have 5 years remaining before the plug is pulled. This would entail working the contracts we currently have as a tier 2 supplier, but not seeming to be finding any new business for the future. (i'm in prototyping, so I see what's coming).

HOPEFULLY, they will offer an ER severence package to cut costs, or else, I will ride this job down in flames as long as I am able.