GSK Layoffs: What Ontario Employees Are Owed in Severance
The signing date on a GSK package is set by the employer, not by law. The ESA floor is counted in weeks, and the common law often adds months on top.
Key takeaways
- Check your years of service against the 5 year line. Your start date is on your offer letter.
- Check that notice pay and severance pay appear as two separate figures. A single lump sum makes it impossible to tell whether s. 65 severance pay was added at all.
- Check that your health, dental and drug coverage runs through the notice weeks. Find the date your coverage ends in the package letter.
- Check your vesting schedule against the end of your notice period. RSUs or options due to vest inside it should appear in the offer as a dollar figure, not as a forfeiture.
- Check the offer letter you signed when you were hired. The termination clause that tries to hold you to the ESA minimum usually sits there, not in the package.
In this article
✅Quick answer. GSK announced Belgian job cuts but not whether Canadian roles are affected. If your Ontario job ends, you are owed ESA notice or pay in lieu, ESA severance pay once you have 5 years of service and the employer's payroll is $2.5 million or more, and usually more at common law unless a valid termination clause limits you.
What did GSK announce?
| At a glance | What the record shows |
|---|---|
| Announced | October 14, 2026 |
| Effective | Not disclosed |
| People affected | Up to 1,217 jobs in Belgium |
| Share of workforce | Not disclosed |
| Layoff or furlough | Layoff; the company says it intends to "reorganise certain operations" |
| Canadian impact | Not disclosed; the Canadian arm, GSK Canada, is based in Mississauga |
What should you do in the first 48 hours?
- The deadline is the employer's choice, not the law's; ask in writing for more time.
- Sign nothing, including the release; do not resign or agree to call it a resignation.
- Save what you can; ask HR in writing for your contract, plan documents and pay stubs.
- Write down the date, who told you and what was said.
- Apply for EI online right after your last day without waiting for your Record of Employment; applying over 4 weeks late can cost you benefits.
👥If your colleagues got the same letter. Compare notes on what each person was offered. Count how many people at your location got a letter in the same 4 weeks, because 50 or more raises the ESA minimum. Do not sign together on the employer's timetable; each of you can ask for more time. Keep every letter.
Does Ontario law apply if the parent company is outside Canada?
Yes. Under s. 3(1) of the ESA, the Act applies where your work "is to be performed in Ontario," wherever the parent company sits.
What is the ESA minimum if you lose your job?
- Notice, ss. 54 and 57. Once you have 3 months of service you are owed written notice or pay in lieu: 1 week under a year, 2 weeks from 1 to 3 years, then 1 week per completed year up to 8 weeks at 8 or more years.
- Group notice, s. 58. If your location reaches the group count above, the minimum notice rises to between 8 and 16 weeks depending on how many.
- Pay in lieu, ss. 60 and 61. Your pay and terms cannot be cut during the notice weeks; the employer can pay those weeks as a lump sum instead, but at no less than your regular wages and with your benefit plan contributions kept going.
- Severance pay, s. 64. It is owed once you have 5 or more years and the employer's payroll is $2.5 million or more.
- Amount, s. 65. 1 week of regular wages for each year of service, with partial years counted by month, capped at 26 weeks and paid on top of notice.
The mass termination rules explain how the group counts work.
What are you actually owed at common law?
The first package is usually built on the ESA floor, and common law severance usually sits well above it. How far above depends on the factors in Bardal v. Globe & Mail Ltd., 1960 CanLII 294 (ON SC): your age, your length of service, the kind of job you held and how much comparable work is out there for someone like you.
RSUs, options and bonus can add to those months; severance for tech workers covers the equity detail.
Compare your package with the ESA minimum and a court range
Enter your start date, age, role and pay to see your ESA weeks and a common law range for your profile. It is an estimate, not a promise.
What do tech severance packages usually get wrong?
- Packages often end RSUs and options on your last day, but grants due to vest during the notice period may be claimable (Wigdor v. Facebook Canada Ltd., 2026 ONCA 572, a recent August 2026 Court of Appeal decision; O'Reilly v. IMAX Corporation, 2019 ONCA 991).
- A bonus plan that requires you to be actively employed on the payout date does not cut off the bonus you would have earned over the notice period (Paquette v. TeraGo Networks Inc., 2016 ONCA 618).
- If one sentence in the termination section breaks the ESA, often the for cause paragraph, the whole clause fails and you are back to common law notice (Waksdale v. Swegon North America Inc., 2020 ONCA 391).
What should you do before you sign?
The release is the one step you cannot undo, so have the numbers checked against the ESA minimum, the court ranges for your profile, your bonus plan and your vesting schedule first. Book a free severance review and bring the letter, your contract, your plan documents and your equity statements; the firm works on a percentage of what it recovers, and there is no fee if nothing is recovered.
This article is general information about Ontario law. It is not legal advice about your situation.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if the signing date passes and I have not signed?
Your legal right to ESA notice, ESA severance pay and common law notice does not expire with the employer's date. The employer may withdraw the extra money it offered above the ESA minimum, but it must still pay the ESA amounts. Your common law claim stays open even if the offer is withdrawn.
Is a package above the ESA minimum enough?
Not necessarily. Put the package beside the common law range for your profile and compare it line by line: notice months, bonus, RSUs or options due to vest in the notice period, and benefits. Unless a valid termination clause limits you to the ESA, the common law range is the comparison that matters.
What happens to RSUs that vest after my last day?
Grants scheduled to vest during your notice period may be claimable as part of your damages, even if the plan says vesting stops when employment ends. Grants scheduled after the notice period ends are usually lost. Keep your grant agreements and vesting statements, because the dates decide which side of the line each grant falls on.
Which company name will be on my contract and pay stubs?
Look at your employment contract and your pay stubs: the company named there is the one that employs you, and it may not be the parent. Note that name, and check whether the termination letter uses the same one. Use it in every email you send about the package.
Daniel Carter
Legal Writer, Mirza Law
Daniel Carter is a legal writer at Mirza Law in Toronto. He writes about layoffs, employment contracts, and the steps to take before you sign anything from your employer.
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