For any issues related to termination of employment, consultation must occur with People and
Resources through the associate vice-president of People and Resources.

Exempt staff may be terminated as a result of reorganization or changing requirements for which the
employee is not suited or other exceptional circumstances where clear just cause for termination may
not be defendable. Decisions to terminate exempt staff will only be made when other options
(retraining, reassignment) are not practical. Where termination occurs for reasons other than just cause,
individuals will be treated fairly and reasonable notice (or pay in lieu of notice) will be provided as per
the following:

11.1 Reasonable Notice or Pay in Lieu of Notice

Exempt staff are not members of a union and therefore Collective Agreement provisions and
“arbitral jurisprudence” of the grievance/arbitration process for unionized staff does not apply.
Rather, legal rights for exempt staff come from the “common law” and are applied by the courts.
Legal rights may also flow from the provincial employment standards. The university must apply
the provisions of the “common law” and the provincial employment standards to exempt staff.

Under the “common law” an employee who is terminated without just cause, is entitled to fair
and reasonable notice or pay in lieu of notice.

The primary purpose of a notice period (or pay in lieu of notice) is to provide the employee a
reasonable bridging period to find new employment or to retire (in the case of long service
employees). An appropriate notice period is determined by a number of “common law” factors
and will differ from case to case.

Appropriate notice periods must be determined with the assistance of People and Resources. A
general guideline for notice periods is one month per full year of service, up to a maximum of 24
months. Settlement packages may include additional considerations depending on the reasons
for the termination and the individual circumstances of the employee (which include applying
the appropriate “common law” factors). In addition, out-placement services and other supports
as applicable may be offered as part of a termination package.

11.2 Termination of Term Positions

The employment of an employee with term status, in a term position, ends automatically upon the expiration of the stated term date, without notice.

 An employee with term status whose term position ends prior to its stated expiration date will be provided with one (1) month notice or pay in lieu of notice.

11.3 Other Termination Processes

a) Resignation

An employee shall provide a minimum of one month written notice of intent to resign to their immediate supervisor. The notice period should be in addition to any unused vacation entitlement which may be used or paid out following discussion and agreement with the supervisor, taking into account the operations of the unit.

b) Retirement

An employee who intends to retire must provide notice to their supervisor at least six months prior to the expected date of retirement. While it is not a requirement, normal date of retirement is:

  1. The 30th day of June coinciding with or next following the employee’s 67th birthday for employees under the Academic Pension Plan or
  2. The first day of the month immediately following the employee’s 65th birthday for employees under the Non-Academic Pension Plan