HubSpot Layoffs: What Ontario Employees Are Owed in Severance
The deadline on your HubSpot severance letter is a date the company picked, not one Ontario law sets. The ESA minimum is counted in weeks, and common law notice usually adds months on top.
Key takeaways
- Check that your benefits continue through the ESA notice weeks. Section 61(1)(b) requires the employer to keep up your benefit plan contributions even when it pays the notice as a lump sum.
- Check that ESA severance pay appears as its own line. ESA severance pay under s. 64 is owed on top of your ESA notice pay, so one blended figure can hide a shortfall.
- Check what has been taken off your ESA severance pay. Section 65(8) allows only a short list of deductions from ESA severance pay, so ask the employer to explain any amount it has subtracted.
- Check which RSU vesting dates and bonus payout dates fall inside your likely notice period. Write each date and amount on one list today, so you can see what a package that stops on your last day leaves out.
- Check any offer of another role before you turn it down. Under O. Reg. 288/01, s. 2(1), refusing an offer of reasonable alternative employment with the employer can cost you ESA notice pay, so get advice first.
In this article
⚡Quick answer HubSpot is cutting about 7% of its workforce. In Ontario you are owed ESA notice or pay in lieu, ESA severance pay if you have 5 years of service and the employer's payroll is $2.5 million or more, and usually months more at common law unless your termination clause complies with the ESA.
What did HubSpot announce?
| At a glance | What was reported |
|---|---|
| Announced | October 1, 2026 (StreetInsider); the company's Form 8-K was filed October 6, 2026 |
| Effective | Not disclosed |
| People affected | Not disclosed; the company had 8,246 employees in 2024 (Wikipedia) |
| Share of workforce | About 7% (StreetInsider) |
| Layoff or furlough | Layoff, which the company called a "restructuring plan", with expected charges of $65 million to $75 million, mainly severance, notice period and benefits payments (StreetInsider) |
| Canadian impact | Not disclosed; no Canadian figure was given (StreetInsider), and the company is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts (Wikipedia) |
What should you do in the first 48 hours?
- Ask in writing for more time.
- Sign nothing, including the release; do not resign or let it be called a resignation.
- Save what you can reach; ask HR in writing for your contract, plan documents and pay stubs.
- Note the date, who told you and what was said.
- Apply for EI online after your last day, even before the Record of Employment arrives; applying more than 4 weeks late can cost benefits.
👥If your colleagues got the same letter. Compare notes on what each person was offered, including bonus and equity. Count how many people at your location got a letter in the same 4 weeks, because 50 or more changes the ESA minimum. Do not sign together on the employer's timetable; each person's numbers differ. Keep every letter.
Does Ontario law apply if your employer is a US company?
Yes. Under s. 3(1) of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA), the Act applies when your work is performed in Ontario, so where the parent company sits and which company in the group pays you do not change the answer.
What is the ESA minimum for a layoff this size?
Under s. 54, once you have 3 months of service you are owed written notice or pay in lieu under s. 61.
- Notice, s. 57: 1 week under 1 year of service, 2 weeks from 1 to 3 years, then 1 week per completed year up to 8 weeks at 8 years.
- Group notice, s. 58: if 50 or more people at your location lose their jobs within 4 weeks, the minimum notice under the mass termination rules rises to between 8 and 16 weeks depending on how many.
- Severance pay, s. 64: 5 or more years of service plus an employer payroll of $2.5 million or more means ESA severance pay on top of notice.
- Severance amount, s. 65: 1 week of regular pay per year of service, with partial years counted by the month, up to 26 weeks.
What are you actually owed at common law?
Common law notice is counted in months of pay, usually including bonus, equity and benefits. How many months turns on the factors in Bardal v. Globe & Mail Ltd., 1960 CanLII 294 (ON SC): your role, your age, your years of service and how easily you can find similar work.
See severance for tech workers for how RSUs and options fit into those months.
Run your own numbers
Enter your age, service, role and pay to see where your profile sits in the court range.
What do tech severance packages usually get wrong?
- The package ends vesting on your last day, yet RSUs and options vesting during the notice period can be claimed (O'Reilly v. IMAX Corporation, 2019 ONCA 991). Wigdor v. Facebook Canada Ltd., 2026 ONCA 572, is a recent decision holding that a clause ending vesting at termination is void.
- The package stops the bonus too, but a rule that you must be employed on the payout date does not by itself remove the bonus for 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 ends your claim to everything above the ESA minimum, including the common law months and the equity, and it is the one step you cannot undo, so get the numbers checked before you sign. Book a free severance review; Mirza Law works on a percentage of what it recovers, with 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 date on the letter passes and I have not signed?
The employer may withdraw the part of the offer above the ESA minimum, which is why the request for more time goes in writing before the date. The ESA minimum stays owed whether or not you sign, and without a signed release your common law claim stays open.
Is a package above the ESA minimum enough?
Not by itself. An offer can beat the ESA weeks and still fall months short of common law notice, so measure it in months against the court ranges for your profile. Count bonus, equity and benefits over those months, not only base pay.
Do RSUs that vest after my last day count?
They can, if the vesting date falls inside the notice period you are owed, because the claim covers what you would have received had you stayed through that period. Download your grant agreement and vesting schedule before access to the equity account ends, and list each date with its number of units.
How many years of service do I need for ESA severance pay?
Five, counting all your time with the employer. Section 65(2) includes time that was not continuous or not active, such as an earlier stint with the same employer or a leave. Below 5 years there is no ESA severance pay, though s. 57 notice and any common law claim still apply.
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.
See all articles
