ESA Termination Pay Calculator (2026)
If your job in Ontario ended without cause, the Employment Standards Act sets the minimum notice you're owed — one week per year of service, capped at eight. Enter your length of service and weekly pay to see the statutory floor.
Statutory pay in lieu of notice
$0
How Ontario's termination notice works
The ESA rule is a ladder. Under three months of service you get nothing. From three months to just under a year, it's one week. After that it's one week of notice for every completed year of service — two years earns two weeks, six years earns six — until it stops at eight weeks. Reaching eight years locks in the maximum; extra service beyond that doesn't add to the statutory figure.
Your employer can hand you that time as working notice, where you stay on and get paid as normal through the period, or as a lump sum of pay in lieu — your weekly wage times the number of weeks. That lump sum is what this calculator shows. What it does not show is common-law reasonable notice, which is a separate and usually far larger entitlement decided case by case. Treat the number here as the legal minimum, and get advice before you accept a package built on it.
Common questions
How much termination pay am I owed in Ontario?
One week of notice, or pay in lieu, per completed year of service, capped at eight weeks. Under three months you get nothing; three months to a year is one week. Five full years is five weeks; eight or more years caps at eight. This is the ESA minimum, not common-law notice.
How is ESA termination pay calculated?
Your completed years of service is your number of weeks (max eight). Multiply that by your regular weekly wage for the pay in lieu of notice. If you're given working notice instead, you keep working at normal pay rather than taking a lump sum.
What's the difference between termination pay and severance pay?
Two separate ESA entitlements. Termination notice (one week per year, max eight) covers almost everyone. Statutory severance is extra and only applies with five-plus years of service and an employer payroll of $2.5 million or more. This tool calculates the notice.
Is ESA notice the same as common-law reasonable notice?
No. The ESA minimum caps at eight weeks, but common-law reasonable notice often runs closer to a month per year of service, sometimes 18–24 months for long-serving senior staff. The ESA figure is your floor. Talk to an employment lawyer before signing a release.