Open for signatureElectronice-7616 · Parliament 45

Increase pay-in-lieu maximum

Sign on the House of Commons website

Petitioners ask the Canada Labour Code require a statutory maximum of six months' pay in lieu of notice and impose penalties on employers who routinely underpay severance or use restrictive termination clauses.

Why we would sign this petition

  • Guarantees larger, predictable compensation by raising the statutory maximum to six months, reducing immediate financial hardship after job loss.
  • Reduces the gap between statutory rules and higher common-law awards, limiting employers' incentive to offer only minimal statutory payouts.
  • Creates penalties that could deter routine underpayment and restrictive clauses, encouraging fairer settlements and lowering reliance on costly legal claims.

Why we wouldn’t sign this petition

  • Raising the statutory maximum increases employers' potential payouts, which could raise labour costs and affect hiring or business flexibility.
  • A fixed six‑month cap may still be below some common‑law awards, potentially replacing tailored case‑by‑case compensation with a blunt limit.
  • Detecting and enforcing routine underpayment or abusive clauses may be administratively complex and could prompt additional litigation or compliance costs.

The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.

Official petition

Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament assembled Employment termination remains a serious social and economic challenge, particularly for Canadians aged 15 to 60 years old; Statistics Canada estimates that roughly 4,000 to 4,200 Canadians lose their jobs every day; Employment lawyers and labour advocates report that most Canadian employers attempt to undercut former employees and underpay their severance, offering only basic statutory minimums while ignoring much higher common law entitlements; The Canada Labour Code mandates severance pay equal to only two days' wages per year of service, with a minimum of five days’ wages; The Canada Labour Code mandates pay in lieu of notice of termination equal to one week’s wages per year of service, with a minimum of two weeks’ wages and a maximum of eight weeks’ wages; The maximum severance under common law is typically 24 months’ wages, which is substantially higher than the provincial and federal standards; Many employers purposely rely on the fact that workers are unaware of their entitlement to common law severance and will offer only the statutory minimum, which is much lower; Most Canadians do not have the resources to file a legal claim against an employer, including legal fees of up to $200,000; and Many Canadians suffer from adverse mental health impacts resulting from litigation. We, the undersigned, Citizens of Canada, call upon the House of Commons in Parliament assembled to: 1. Increase the statutory maximum to six months for pay in lieu of notice of termination; and 1. Increase the statutory maximum to six months for pay in lieu of notice of termination; and 2. Introduce statutory penalties for companies that routinely underpay severance or use internal contracts with restrictive termination clauses that severely limit payouts.

Government response

No government response is available yet.