Collective dismissal

A collective dismissal occurs if, over a period of 2 consecutive months, an employer:

terminates the employment of 10 or more workers in the same establishment
lays off 10 or more workers in the same establishment for a temporary period of 6 months or more

At the time of termination or at the time of the next regular pay, the employer must give the workers all the sums they are due, such as wages, overtime pay and the vacation indemnity (4% or 6%).

The employer must give written notice of termination of employment in accordance with the prescribed notice period to the worker who is being terminated. If they do not give notice or do not give sufficient notice, the worker is entitled to an indemnity, that is, monetary compensation.

Notice of collective dismissal

When there is a collective dismissal, the employer must post a notice of collective dismissal in their company in a visible and easily accessible place in accordance with the prescribed notice period. The notice period varies depending on the number of workers affected by the dismissal or layoff.

Length of time between the notice and the workers’ departure in the event of a collective dismissal
Number of workers affected	Length of time between the notice and the workers’ departure
10 to 99 workers	8 weeks
100 to 299 workers	12 weeks
300 workers or more	16 weeks

Produce a notice of collective dismissal

To produce a notice of collective dismissal, you can use the Notice of collective dismissal form (in French only) or the online service “Produce a notice of collective dismissal” in the Zone entreprise of clicSÉQUR – Entreprises.

Content of the notice of collective dismissal

The notice of collective dismissal must include:

the name and address of the employer or the establishment concerned and, where applicable, the Québec enterprise number
the sector of activity
the name and address of the workers’ associations, where applicable
the reason for the collective dismissal
the scheduled date of the collective dismissal
the number of workers who may be affected by the collective dismissal
the name of a representative of the employer, their position as well as a telephone number and an email address to reach them

The notice of collective dismissal must be sent to the Ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale (MESS). You can find out how to send a notice (in French only) on Québec.ca.

If applicable, the notice of collective dismissal must also be sent to the certified association (for example, a union) that represents the workers affected by the termination.

Note

If the notice of collective dismissal is not sent in accordance with the prescribed notice period, the employer may be liable for a fine of $1 500 per week that will be credited to the Labour Market Development Fund.

Compensatory indemnity

Failure to give notice

An employer who does not give the MESS notice of the collective dismissal or who is unable to keep the workers employed for the full notice period must pay the affected workers a compensatory indemnity.

The indemnity must be equal to the regular wages they would have earned between the date on which the notice should have been given to the MESS and the termination of their employment or their layoff.

Overtime must not be included when calculating the indemnity.

In the case of a worker who earns tips, the amount of the reported or attributed tips must be taken into account when calculating the indemnity.

Insufficient notice

An employer who gives insufficient notice to the MESS or who is unable to keep the workers employed for part of the notice period must pay the affected workers a compensatory indemnity. The indemnity must be equal to the regular wages the workers would have received during the period of notice that could not be respected.

The indemnity must be paid at the time of termination of employment. In the case of a layoff for 6 months or more, the indemnity must be paid no later than 6 months after the layoff date.

Important

The indemnities provided for in cases where the notice of termination of employment or the notice of collective dismissal are not sent in accordance with the prescribed notice period are not cumulative. The worker will receive only the higher of the compensatory indemnities to which they are entitled.

Example when insufficient notice of collective dismissal is given

Company ABC must dismiss 12 workers. The employer submits their notice of collective dismissal to the MESS and posts a copy in the establishment concerned on September 1. The 12 workers will lose their jobs on October 1.

The dismissal affects 12 workers, the period for submitting the notice of collective dismissal to the MESS is 8 weeks.

The employer submitted its notice to the MESS on September 1, that is, 4 weeks before the termination of employment of the 12 workers dismissed on 1 October.

The employer must pay each worker a compensatory indemnity equal to 4 weeks’ wages.

The sum must be paid on October 1, at the time of the termination of the workers’ employment.

They must also give each worker a notice of termination of employment in accordance with the notice period provided for by law.

Example when insufficient notice of collective dismissal and insufficient notice of termination of employment are given

Company ABC must close. It has 140 workers, all of whom must be dismissed.

Since the dismissal affects 100 to 299 workers, the notice of dismissal must be submitted to the MESS 12 weeks before the termination of their employment.

The employer was able to submit their notice of collective dismissal to the MESS 2 weeks before the scheduled date of closure. They also gave each worker a notice of termination of employment 2 weeks before the closure.

The employer must pay the workers the higher of the following compensatory indemnities:

10 weeks’ wages for the weeks of notice that were missing from the notice of collective dismissal (it was given 2 weeks before the termination of their employment instead of 12 weeks)
the weeks of wages for the weeks of notice that were missing from the notice of termination of employment, which is determined by the length of the worker’s uninterrupted service.

In the case of a worker who has been employed by the company for 10 years, they must receive their notice of termination of employment 8 weeks before the end of their employment because the employer gave it 2 weeks ago.

The employer must pay them a compensatory indemnity equivalent to 10 weeks of work (period missing from the notice of collective dismissal), as this is the higher indemnity of the two.