Canada Legal Center
§ Termination§ Employment§ Severance pay§ Wrongful dismissal§ Employment insurance

Fired or Terminated: Federal EI Steps vs Ontario and Alberta Rules

5 min read
The short answer Federally, everyone who loses a job applies for Employment Insurance and needs a Record of Employment; those rules are the same in every province. Provincially, Ontario (Employment Standards Act) and Alberta (Employment Standards Code) set different minimum notice, severance, and complaint-deadline rules, so which one applies depends on where you work. Compare both before accepting a severance offer or filing a claim.

Ontario vs Alberta: how the statutory rules differ

Losing a job triggers one federal process that is identical everywhere in Canada, and a set of provincial rules that are not. The federal piece is Employment Insurance (EI) and the Record of Employment (ROE); the provincial piece is minimum notice, severance, and how long you have to complain, and Ontario and Alberta set these differently.

Ontario (Employment Standards Act)Alberta (Employment Standards Code)
Who gets statutory notice/payEmployees with 3+ months of serviceEmployees generally; variable-wage workers get pay based on a 13-week average of hours worked before termination
Separate severance pay entitlementYes: 5+ years’ service and employer payroll of $2.5M+ (or 50+ employees terminated in 6 months); capped at 26 weeksNo separate statutory severance; anything beyond the minimum notice/pay is a common-law entitlement, not created by the Code
Deadline to file a government complaint2 years from the alleged ESA violation6 months from the last day of employment
Group/mass termination triggerSeverance test counts 50+ terminations in 6 months toward eligibilityEmployer must give the Minister 4 weeks’ written notice for 50+ terminations at one location within 4 weeks
Final pay deadlineNot addressed in this datasetWithin 10 days after the end of the pay period of termination, or 31 days after the last day worked, whichever comes first
Reason for termination requiredNo, the ESA does not require the employer to state a reasonNot addressed in this dataset
Constructive dismissal routeComplaint under the ESA where a significant unilateral change to a fundamental term forced a resignationEmployment Standards complaint where the employee believes they are owed termination pay for constructive dismissal

Both provinces recognize temporary layoffs as distinct from termination. In Alberta, a temporary layoff cannot run longer than 90 days within a 120-day period; if the employer does not follow the proper layoff notice, the employee may have grounds to claim unjust or constructive dismissal. This dataset did not verify an equivalent Ontario maximum, so an Ontario employee on layoff should check the ESA’s layoff provisions directly rather than assume the Alberta figure applies.

The federal step that’s the same everywhere: ROE and EI

Regardless of province, two things happen on the federal side whenever employment ends:

  1. The employer issues a Record of Employment (ROE). Every employer must issue one whenever an employee’s earnings are interrupted, such as at termination. It is the document Service Canada uses to process an EI claim.
  2. The (former) employee applies for EI. Apply as soon as you stop working, even before the ROE arrives. Waiting more than 4 weeks after the last day of work risks losing benefits.

Neither of these steps depends on whether the job was in Ontario, Alberta, or elsewhere, and neither depends on whether the termination was with or without cause.

Statutory minimums are a floor, not the full story

In both provinces, the employment standards notice or pay calculated above is a legislated minimum. It is not necessarily the most an employee is owed.

At common law, a dismissed employee terminated without cause is entitled to “reasonable notice,” a separate and potentially larger entitlement assessed case by case. The leading test, from Bardal v Globe & Mail Ltd, weighs the character of the employment, length of service, the employee’s age, and the availability of similar employment. Alberta courts apply the same Bardal factors; recent Alberta case law treats 24 months as a “rough upper limit” for reasonable notice absent truly exceptional circumstances. A dismissed employee also has a duty to mitigate damages by making reasonable efforts to find comparable new employment, a duty Alberta courts have applied when calculating what is owed.

In Ontario, there is a procedural fork: an employee cannot both file an ESA claim for termination or severance pay and sue for wrongful dismissal over the same termination. The employee must pick one route. This dataset did not confirm whether Alberta imposes an equivalent either/or choice between an Employment Standards complaint and a common-law claim.

Neither province’s Employment Standards regime requires the employer to explain why the employee was let go. In Ontario, the ESA specifically does not require a stated reason, and an employee dismissed for wilful misconduct, disobedience, or wilful neglect of duty (not trivial, not condoned) loses the ESA notice/pay entitlement entirely. Where an employer asserts cause, that assertion determines whether statutory notice is owed at all, and it is the kind of factual dispute where the underlying misconduct, not just the label, matters.

If discrimination or retaliation may be involved

Both provinces have separate human rights and anti-reprisal protections that operate outside the standard termination-pay calculation:

  • Ontario: The ESA prohibits reprisal against an employee for exercising ESA rights, such as filing a complaint. Separately, a worker who believes they were dismissed for a discriminatory reason generally has one year from the discriminatory act to apply to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.
  • Alberta: The Alberta Human Rights Act prohibits discriminating against an employee in any term or condition of employment, including termination, on grounds such as race, disability, age, gender, or family status. Alberta’s Employment Standards Code also prohibits an employer from retaliating against an employee for making, or planning to make, an employment standards complaint.

Which set of rules applies to you

The answer turns on where you actually work, not on any choice you make:

  • If your job is physically based in Ontario, the Employment Standards Act notice, severance, and complaint-deadline rules above apply, and an Ontario ESA complaint must generally be filed within 2 years.
  • If your job is physically based in Alberta, the Employment Standards Code rules above apply, and an Employment Standards complaint must generally be filed within 6 months of your last day, well ahead of Ontario’s window.
  • Wherever you work, the EI application and ROE process is identical, and it runs on its own 4-week clock separate from any provincial complaint deadline.

Given how much shorter Alberta’s 6-month complaint window is compared to Ontario’s 2 years, an Alberta employee weighing a severance offer has considerably less time to decide before an Employment Standards complaint option lapses.

Frequently asked questions

How soon should I apply for Employment Insurance after losing my job?

Federally, apply as soon as you stop working, even before you receive your Record of Employment. Applying more than 4 weeks after your last day risks losing benefits, and this timeline is the same in Ontario, Alberta, and every other province.

What's the difference between termination pay and severance pay?

In Ontario these are two separate entitlements under the Employment Standards Act: termination pay/notice applies after 3 months of service, while severance pay is a further amount for employees with 5+ years at an employer with a $2.5 million payroll (capped at 26 weeks). In Alberta, only the statutory notice/termination pay is created by the Employment Standards Code; anything beyond that is a common-law severance claim, not a statutory one.

Can I get more than the statutory minimum notice or pay?

Possibly, through a common-law wrongful dismissal claim for 'reasonable notice,' assessed case by case using factors from Bardal v Globe & Mail (character of employment, age, length of service, availability of similar work), which Alberta courts also apply. In Ontario, you must choose between filing an Employment Standards Act claim or suing for wrongful dismissal for the same termination, you cannot do both.

What if I think I was fired for a discriminatory reason?

In Ontario, you generally have one year from the discriminatory act to apply to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. In Alberta, the Human Rights Act prohibits terminating someone based on protected grounds like race, disability, or gender, and a complaint can be pursued through that Act.

Sources

  1. Alberta.ca – Employment standards – Termination and lay-off , Employment Standards Code, RSA 2000, c E-9 (retrieved July 17, 2026)
  2. Alberta.ca – Make an employment standards complaint , Employment Standards Code, RSA 2000, c E-9, Part 3, s 82 (retrieved July 17, 2026)
  3. Alberta.ca – Employment standards rules – Payment of earnings , Employment Standards Code, RSA 2000, c E-9, Part 2, Divisions 1-2 (retrieved July 17, 2026)
  4. CanLII – Alberta Human Rights Act, RSA 2000, c A-25.5 , Alberta Human Rights Act, RSA 2000, c A-25.5, s 7
  5. CanLII – Lischuk v K-Jay Electric Ltd, 2025 ABKB 460 , Lischuk v K-Jay Electric Ltd, 2025 ABKB 460
  6. Canada.ca – EI Record of Employment , Employment Insurance Regulations, SOR/96-332, s 19, under Employment Insurance Act, SC 1996, c 23 (retrieved July 17, 2026)
  7. Canada.ca – EI Regular Benefits , Employment Insurance Act, SC 1996, c 23, s 50 (retrieved July 17, 2026)
  8. Canada.ca – EI Regular Benefits: Apply , Employment Insurance Act, SC 1996, c 23, s 10(4) (retrieved July 17, 2026)
  9. Government of Ontario – Your Guide to the ESA, Termination of Employment , Employment Standards Act, 2000, SO 2000, c 41, ss 54, 56(1)(b), 57, 97 (retrieved July 17, 2026)
  10. Employment Standards Act Policy and Interpretation Manual, Part XV , Employment Standards Act, 2000, SO 2000, c 41, s 57 (retrieved July 17, 2026)
  11. Government of Ontario – Industries and Jobs, Terms and Definitions , Employment Standards Act, 2000, SO 2000, c 41, ss 64-65 (retrieved July 17, 2026)
  12. Government of Ontario – Your Guide to the ESA, Severance Pay , Employment Standards Act, 2000, SO 2000, c 41, s 65(1), s 8(1) (retrieved July 17, 2026)
  13. Government of Ontario – Your Guide to the ESA, Filing a Claim , Employment Standards Act, 2000, SO 2000, c 41, s 96(3) (retrieved July 17, 2026)
  14. CanLII – Bardal v Globe & Mail Ltd , Bardal v Globe & Mail Ltd, 1960 CanLII 294 (ON SC)
  15. CanLII – Lake v La Presse , Lake v La Presse, 2022 ONCA 742
  16. CanLII – Wisser v CEM International Management Consultants Ltd , Wisser v CEM International Management Consultants Ltd, 2022 ABQB 414
  17. Employment Standards Act Policy and Interpretation Manual, Part XVIII , Employment Standards Act, 2000, SO 2000, c 41, s 74(1) (retrieved July 17, 2026)
  18. Steps to Justice / Human Rights Legal Support Centre , Human Rights Code, RSO 1990, c H.19, s 34(1) (retrieved July 17, 2026)