Over the last 5-6 years every corporate, salaried job offer package I've seen (mine or friends) requires the new hire to sign away all rights to claim anything above minimum ESA legal requirements if they ever get laid off (a no cause termination).
From what I can tell, Common Law severance is basically court precedent as to what an individual should be paid in severance if they are laid off through no fault of their own. ESA only requires 1 week severance per year. Common law says companies should pay more than that under qualifying circumstances - for many roles and levels this is more like 1 to 2 months severance per year worked at that company.
But companies have realized they can just force you to sign away the right to challenge your tiny ESA mandated severance amount in court in order to get the job. And getting the job is the only compensation for signing that, there is no real material compensation like a signing bonus.
"Well don't sign any offers with that in it" - yeah that's called unemployment. These clauses are effectively impossible to avoid if you want a corporate job these days. Unless you are the type of professional that companies bend over backwards for (Execs, some extreme specializations) then the company is not going to budge on requiring that clause be in there. And now that all the companies are jumping in on this approach, there are no "other" companies to go with - they all do it.
"Those clauses are unenforceable anyway" or "talk to an employment lawyer" - yep, paid for a consult with an employment lawyer and he said these clauses are completely enforceable and pretty iron-clad. If you sign it, your chances of getting anything beyond ESA minimums are effectively zero unless there is something wrong elsewhere in the contract that could be claimed.
Other similar "sign away your rights to get a job" clauses are also becoming common; clauses that take away earned bonuses if they lay you off in the time period between you earning the bonus and them actually paying it out. Again, employment lawyer said those clauses are completely enforceable and very hard to get out of if you sign them. And if you don't sign them you don't get the job in the first place.
Right now I'm looking for my next job in tech (good luck to me), and if I win the job lottery and actually get an offer (or two!) I'm just going to be faced with having to sign with the same clauses again. Sign them or no job, but if you do sign them you are screwed if they ever lay you off.
Am I missing things here or doesn't this mean that Common Law severance is effectively dead in Canada now?