About the Severance Pay Calculator
In most of Canada, an employee terminated without cause is entitled to 'reasonable notice' under common law — often far more generous than the statutory minimum notice set by provincial employment standards. Courts determine reasonable notice case-by-case using the Bardal factors (age, length of service, character of employment, and availability of similar work). This tool applies a widely used rule-of-thumb approximation — roughly one month of notice per year of service — to give you a ballpark starting point.
How it works
Estimated notice period (months) ≈ years of service, generally bounded between about 1 and 24 months in practice for most cases (very senior, long-tenured, or older employees can sometimes exceed this).
Estimated severance = monthly salary × estimated notice months
Assumptions and behaviour
- The 1 month per year rule of thumb is a widely cited industry approximation, not a legal formula — actual reasonable notice periods are determined by a court (or negotiated) based on the specific Bardal factors of each case.
- Caps the estimate between 1 and 24 months, reflecting the typical range seen in Canadian wrongful dismissal cases, though outliers exist in both directions.
- Assumes termination without cause and no valid, enforceable termination clause limiting notice in the employment contract.
Limitations
- This is not a legal determination — many employment contracts contain enforceable termination clauses that limit notice to the statutory minimum, overriding common-law reasonable notice entirely.
- Doesn't calculate the statutory minimum (Employment Standards Act) floor, which always applies regardless of any contract.
- Estimates only — not legal advice. Consult an employment lawyer for your actual entitlement.
Privacy
The calculation runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or stored.
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