Under Ontario's Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA), a dental practice that ends the employment of a team member with at least three months of continuous service must, in most cases, give written notice, termination pay instead of notice, or a combination of the two. The minimum ranges from one week for less than a year of service to eight weeks for eight years or more, and severance pay is a separate entitlement with its own rules.
Letting someone go is one of the hardest decisions a practice owner makes, and it is also one of the easiest to get wrong on paper. Do you know how much notice your longest-serving hygienist is owed? Can you schedule a departing assistant's vacation into the notice period? When does termination pay have to land? As of October 2026, the Ontario government's Your guide to the Employment Standards Act answers each of these questions in its chapter on termination of employment, last updated July 23, 2026. This post walks through what that chapter means for dental practices in Toronto, the GTA and across Ontario.
One note before we start: the ESA sets minimums. The ministry's guide states plainly that some employees may have greater rights under the common law, and employment contracts can add to the statutory floor. For any real termination, especially one involving a long-serving employee, speak with an employment lawyer before you act.
What counts as a termination under the ESA?
The obvious case is dismissal: telling an employee their job is over. But the ministry's guide lists three situations in which employment is terminated under the ESA:
- the employer dismisses or stops employing the employee;
- the employer "constructively" dismisses the employee, and the employee resigns in response within a reasonable time; or
- the employer lays the employee off for longer than a "temporary lay-off."
The second and third items catch practice owners off guard. Constructive dismissal, according to the guide, may occur when an employer makes a significant change to a fundamental term or condition of employment without the employee's actual or implied consent. The guide's examples include a significant reduction in salary or a significant negative change to work location, hours, authority or position. It also lists harassment or abuse by the employer, and a "quit or be fired" ultimatum followed by a resignation.
For a dental practice, that means operational changes carry legal weight. Cutting a hygienist's scheduled days sharply, or moving an assistant to a different location, may be treated as a termination if it is significant, made without consent, and the employee resigns in response within a reasonable time.
Pro Tip: Before any major change to an employee's hours, pay or role, put the proposal in writing and ask for their written agreement. If they do not agree, call the Employment Standards Information Centre at 1-800-531-5551, or a lawyer, before implementing it. The ministry itself calls constructive dismissal "a complex and difficult subject."
How much notice does a dental employee get in Ontario?
An employee becomes entitled to notice of termination, or termination pay instead of notice, once they have been continuously employed for at least three months. The amount depends on their "period of employment." The ministry's chart sets out the minimum:
Special rules apply to mass terminations, defined in the guide as 50 or more employees terminated at an employer's establishment within a four-week period. Few single dental practices will reach that threshold, but larger multi-location groups should be aware it exists.
What counts toward the period of employment?
The guide counts time when the employee is not actively working but the employment relationship still exists, such as time off sick, on leave or on lay-off. So a hygienist who spent several months on parental leave keeps that time in their period of employment. There are two exceptions. If a lay-off runs longer than a temporary lay-off, employment is deemed terminated on the first day of the lay-off. And if two separate periods of employment are separated by more than 13 weeks, only the most recent period counts for notice.
What are your obligations during the notice period?
Working notice is not a wind-down period in which terms can change. During the statutory notice period, the guide says an employer must:
- not reduce the employee's wage rate or alter any other term or condition of employment;
- continue making the contributions needed to maintain the employee's benefit plans; and
- pay at least the employee's regular wages for a regular work week, each week.
For team members whose hours vary week to week, which is common for part-time hygienists and assistants, "regular wages" are the average of regular wages earned in the weeks they worked during the 12 weeks before notice was given.
Two more rules are easy to miss. First, you cannot schedule the employee's vacation during the statutory notice period unless the employee agrees to it after receiving written notice. Second, in most cases the notice must be in writing and addressed to the employee. It can be delivered in person, by mail, by fax or by e-mail, as long as delivery can be verified.
Pro Tip: Deliver notice by e-mail and in person, and keep a copy in the employee file with the date and time. Verifiable delivery is the ESA's requirement; a paper trail makes it easy to prove.
How is termination pay calculated?
If you do not give the full written notice required, you must pay termination pay instead. The guide describes it as a lump sum equal to the regular wages for a regular work week that the employee would have earned during the notice period. Three details matter for payroll:
- The employee earns vacation pay on their termination pay.
- You must continue benefit plan contributions through the notice period, even when you pay in lieu.
- Termination pay is due seven days after employment ends or on the employee's next regular pay date, whichever is later.
The ministry's own worked example shows the arithmetic. An employee with three and a half years of service worked 40 hours a week at $20.00 CAD an hour, with 4% vacation pay, and received no written notice. Her regular weekly wages were $800.00 CAD. With three weeks of entitlement, termination pay was $2,400.00 CAD, plus 4% vacation pay of $96.00 CAD, for a total of $2,496.00 CAD. The employer also had to keep her benefit and pension plan coverage in place for three weeks.
You can also combine the two: give some working notice and pay the balance, as long as the notice and the weeks of termination pay together equal the employee's full entitlement.
Who is not entitled to notice or termination pay?
The guide lists a number of exemptions, and warns that many of them are complex. The ones most likely to come up in a dental practice are:
- Wilful misconduct. An employee guilty of wilful misconduct, disobedience or wilful neglect of duty that is not trivial and has not been condoned by the employer. The guide notes that poor work conduct that is accidental or unintentional is generally not considered wilful. This is a high bar: an assistant who makes honest mistakes generally will not meet it.
- Less than three months of employment.
- Refused reasonable alternative employment with the employer.
- Fixed-term or task contracts, with conditions. The exemption does not apply if employment ends early, runs more than 12 months past the start, or continues three months or more after the term or task ends.
- Temporary lay-off. The basic rule is no more than 13 weeks of lay-off in any 20 consecutive weeks, with longer periods allowed only under specific conditions in the guide.
- Frustration of contract by an unforeseen event such as a fire or flood that makes it impossible to keep the employee working. The guide excludes bankruptcy, insolvency, and frustration caused by an employee's own illness or injury.
The guide also notes that a lay-off intended to be temporary may still amount to constructive dismissal if the employment contract does not allow it. If a slow season tempts you to lay staff off, check your contracts first.
Can you terminate without giving a reason?
The ESA does not require an employer to give an employee a reason for termination. But you cannot terminate someone, even with proper notice or pay, if any part of the reason is that they asked about their ESA rights or exercised them. The guide's examples include refusing to work beyond the daily or weekly hours maximums and taking an ESA leave. Terminating a staff member shortly after a leave request, or after they raised an overtime question, creates exactly the kind of risk the reprisal rules target.
Is severance pay the same as termination pay?
No. The guide states that the termination rules are entirely separate from severance pay. Under the ministry's severance chapter, an employee qualifies for severance if they have worked for the employer for five or more years and the employer either has a global payroll of at least $2.5 million CAD or severed 50 or more employees in a six-month period because all or part of the business permanently closed. Severance under the ESA is capped at 26 weeks. Check your total payroll against the $2.5 million CAD threshold rather than assuming severance does not apply. For severance, the guide counts all of an employee's time with the employer, whether continuous or not.
A practical checklist for Ontario practice owners
- Confirm the employee's period of employment, including leaves and prior periods less than 13 weeks apart.
- Look up their minimum notice in the ESA chart, then check their employment contract for anything more generous.
- Decide on working notice, pay in lieu, or a combination.
- Prepare written notice addressed to the employee and deliver it in a verifiable way.
- Keep wages, terms and benefit contributions unchanged during the notice period.
- If paying in lieu, add vacation pay and pay by the later of seven days or the next regular pay date.
- Check whether severance applies: five or more years of total employment with you, continuous or not, and either a global payroll of at least $2.5 million CAD or 50+ employees severed in six months because of a permanent closure.
- Review the timing against any recent leave requests or ESA questions.
- Get legal advice on common-law exposure before finalizing.
Handled carefully, a termination can be lawful, respectful and final. Handled casually, it can turn into a ministry claim or a wrongful dismissal suit. The guide notes that an employee cannot both sue for wrongful dismissal and file a ministry claim for the same termination; they must choose one. Your goal is to give them no reason to do either.
How does your practice handle staff departures? Have you built a standard termination checklist, or do you rely on your accountant or lawyer each time? Share your approach with other Ontario practice owners. More practice resources are available at EBIKO Dental.
Sources
- Government of Ontario, Your guide to the Employment Standards Act: Termination of employment (updated July 23, 2026)
- Government of Ontario, Your guide to the Employment Standards Act: Severance pay
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How much notice do I have to give a dental hygienist in Ontario?
Under the ESA, it depends on their period of employment: one week for less than a year, two weeks for one to under three years, then one more week per year of service up to eight weeks at eight years or more. The employee must have been continuously employed for at least three months, and their contract may require more.
Q: When is termination pay due in Ontario?
Termination pay must be paid seven days after employment ends or on the employee's next regular pay date, whichever is later. The employee also earns vacation pay on termination pay, and benefit contributions must continue through the notice period.
Q: Does a small dental practice have to pay severance in Ontario?
Only if the employee has five or more years of service and the employer has a global payroll of at least $2.5 million, or severed 50 or more employees in six months because of a permanent closure. Severance is separate from termination pay and is capped at 26 weeks under the ESA.