Uber Layoffs: What Ontario Employees Are Owed in Severance
Uber employees in Ontario have a floor under the Employment Standards Act and, in most cases, a claim well above it. The termination clause, the equity plan and the letter's deadline decide how far above.
Key takeaways
- Check your years of service against the 5 year line. Below it there is no ESA severance pay, only notice weeks, and the package will be small no matter how it is dressed.
- Check the for cause paragraph in your contract. One sentence there that promises less than the ESA can bring back common law notice for the whole clause.
- Check every vesting and bonus payout date against months, not weeks. A date that falls inside a notice period measured in months is money the package may have left out.
- Check what the letter says about benefits. Health, dental and disability coverage has to run through the statutory notice period, and a package that stops it at the last day is short.
- Check who else at your location got a letter. The count in a 4 week window is what raises the ESA floor to 8, 12 or 16 weeks.
In this article
- What did Uber announce?
- What should you do in the first 48 hours?
- Does Ontario law apply to you if Uber is based in San Francisco?
- What is the ESA minimum for a layoff this size?
- What are you actually owed at common law?
- What do tech severance packages usually get wrong?
- What should you do before you sign?
✅Quick answer. Uber is cutting jobs worldwide in a restructuring. If your Ontario job goes, you are owed the ESA minimum in weeks, and, unless an enforceable termination clause caps you, common law reasonable notice in months, including the bonus and RSUs that would have vested in those months.
What did Uber announce?
| At a glance | What the public record says |
|---|---|
| Announced | September 2, 2026 |
| Effective | Not disclosed company-wide; the Illinois WARN notice for the Chicago office lists Nov. 2 as the first layoff date (NBC Chicago) |
| People affected | About 3,300 roles globally |
| Share of workforce | 10% of staff |
| Layoff or furlough | Permanent cuts, called a restructuring; no furlough or recall disclosed |
| Canadian impact | Not disclosed. The Canadian arm is Uber Canada |
What should you do in the first 48 hours?
- The deadline on the letter is the employer's choice, not the law's. Ask in writing for more time.
- Do not sign anything, including the release, and do not resign or accept a resignation.
- Keep the letter, the contract, the equity and bonus documents, pay stubs, the Record of Employment.
- Write down the date, who told you and what was said.
- Apply for EI online once your last day of work has passed. Do not wait for the Record of Employment: applying more than 4 weeks after your last day 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 changes the ESA minimum. Keep the letters, including your colleagues' if they will share them. Do not sign together on the employer's timetable.
Does Ontario law apply to you if Uber is based in San Francisco?
Yes. You work in Ontario, so Ontario law governs your dismissal wherever the parent company sits and whichever entity pays you. The US WARN Act is a US statute and gives an Ontario employee nothing; the Employment Standards Act, 2000 and the common law set what you are owed.
What is the ESA minimum for a layoff this size?
Section 57 sets the notice: 1 week under a year of service, 2 weeks from 1 to 3 years, then 1 week for each completed year, to a maximum of 8 weeks at 8 years or more. Section 61 lets the employer pay that out as a lump sum instead of working notice, with benefit contributions continued through the same period.
Section 58 raises that floor for a group layoff: it applies where an employer terminates "50 or more employees at the employer's establishment in the same four-week period", and O. Reg. 288/01 s. 3 then sets 8, 12 or 16 weeks depending on how many go, whatever your service. The count is per location, not global. It does not apply where the terminations at that location are 10% or less of the staff there and no part of the business is closing for good (mass termination rules).
Severance pay under s. 64 is separate money. You need 5 or more years of service, plus either an employer payroll of $2.5 million or more, or 50 or more employees severed within 6 months because part of the business permanently closed. The payroll test is likely met here, though it turns on which entity employs you.
Section 65 sets the amount: 1 week of regular pay for each completed year, pro-rated for part years, capped at 26 weeks. It is on top of your notice or termination pay, not instead of it.
What are you actually owed at common law?
The first package is usually built on the ESA floor, and the common law usually sits well above it. How far above comes from Bardal v. Globe & Mail Ltd., 1960 CanLII 294 (ON SC): your age, your length of service, the character of the job and how available similar work is. How severance works in Ontario sets out the method.
Severance for tech workers covers the equity side.
Run your own numbers
Enter your age, service, pay and role to see the ESA floor and the common law range.
What do tech severance packages usually get wrong?
- Unvested RSUs and options. Wigdor v. Facebook Canada Ltd., 2026 ONCA 572 (Court of Appeal, 2026) held that RSUs vesting in the notice period were recoverable and that a clause ending vesting on termination is void for the statutory notice period. O'Reilly v. IMAX Corporation, 2019 ONCA 991 did the same for the common law period where the plan did not clearly remove them.
- Your bonus. A bonus you would have earned in the notice period is part of the claim; a rule that you must be employed on payout day does not remove it (Paquette v. TeraGo Networks Inc., 2016 ONCA 618).
- The termination clause. 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).
- The release deadline. Signing ends the claim, on their terms.
The notice period is a runway, not a cheque. A new job inside it reduces the claim for the months you are working; it does not erase it, and EI and earnings in the ESA period are not deducted (Brake v. PJ-M2R Restaurant Inc., 2017 ONCA 402).
What should you do before you sign?
Nothing in the package is final until you sign the release, and the release is the one thing that cannot be undone. Get the numbers checked first: the severance review is free, 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 date on the letter passes and I have not signed?
Your ESA minimums are owed whether or not you sign; a release can only be asked for in exchange for money above that floor. An employer can in theory withdraw the extra, and in practice a written request for two weeks is almost always granted. Send the extension email in the section above and keep the reply.
I have 3 years at Uber and the letter offers 2 weeks. Is that it?
Section 57 gives you at least 3 weeks of notice or pay at 3 years of service, so 2 weeks is below the statutory floor on its own. You get no ESA severance pay until 5 years. Common law notice is the bigger number: for a software engineer in that band, Ontario courts have awarded between 2.5 and 11 months, subject to your termination clause.
The package is already above the ESA minimum. Should I take it?
Above the floor is where the real question starts, not where it ends. Compare the offer with the common law range for your profile in the table above and with every vesting date inside that period, because the release trades all of it away. A package that beats the ESA by a few weeks can still be months short.
My RSUs vest a month after my last day. Do I lose them?
Not necessarily. Wigdor v. Facebook Canada Ltd., 2026 ONCA 572, a recent 2026 Court of Appeal decision, held that a clause ending vesting on termination is void for the statutory notice period, and O'Reilly v. IMAX Corporation, 2019 ONCA 991 allowed damages for equity that would have vested during the notice period. Pull the grant agreement and the plan document before you sign anything.
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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