There’s no single number. What’s “reasonable” depends on the full context:
• age
• role and seniority
• compensation and benefits
• job market realities
But long-service employees are often entitled to substantially more than statutory minimums.
Most long-service employees are commonly entitled to severance packages of 12-24 months.
In Lowndes v. Summit Ford Sales Ltd., 2006 CanLII 14 (ON CA), the Court of Appeal stated at paragraph 11 the following:
“Although it is true that reasonable notice of employment termination must be determined on a case-specific basis and there is no absolute upper limit or ‘cap’ on what constitutes reasonable notice, generally only exceptional circumstances will support a base notice period in excess of 24 months: see Baranowski v. Binks Manufacturing Co., [2000] O.J. No. 49 (S.C.J.) at para. 277 and Rienzo v. Washington Mills Electro Minerals Corp., [2005] O.J. No. 5126 (C.A.).”
In select circumstances though an employee may be entitled to significantly more than the 24 month cap as occurred in Dawe v. Equitable Life Insurance Company, 2018 ONSC 3130 (CanLII), where Michael Dawe was found to be entitled to a 30 month notice period with Justice D.J. Gordon noting he would have provided a 36 month notice period had he asked for it.
Michael Dawe was a Senior Vice President at the time of termination, 62 years old, had 37 years of service time and had annual compensation exceeding $500,000.00 per year.
At paragraph 36, Justice D.J. Gordon stated as follows:
“Counsel referred to a number of cases as examples of a reasonable notice period. Such were helpful in my review. Mr. Dawe is at the extreme high end of each of the Bardol factors. He should have been allowed to retire on his own terms. With no comparable employment opportunities, in particular, I would have felt this case warranted a minimum 36 month notice period.”
