OpenText Layoffs: Severance Rights for Ontario Tech Employees

OpenText, one of Canada’s best-known technology companies, has reportedly laid off a portion of its workforce as part of a broader restructuring.

According to BetaKit’s March 2026 report, OpenText confirmed that the cuts affected four percent of its global staff. The report noted that affected employees included workers in Canada, the United States and India, including engineers, senior analysts, leads, community managers and other technology professionals.

For non-union employees in Waterloo, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa or elsewhere in Ontario, the key question is not only whether the layoff was “part of a restructuring.” The more important question is:

Does the severance package properly reflect your legal entitlements?

If you were laid off by OpenText, you should have your package reviewed before signing a release. Our firm helps employees understand termination packages, severance pay and wrongful dismissal issues after restructuring, downsizing and corporate reorganizations.

Speak with an Ontario severance package review lawyer before accepting a termination offer.

Why OpenText employees should review their severance packages carefully

OpenText is a major Waterloo-based technology company with operations around the world. In its Fiscal Year 2025 financial results, OpenText reported annual revenue of more than $5 billion USD and described itself as focused on cloud, AI and security.

For employees, however, a corporate restructuring can create immediate personal uncertainty:

• How much severance should I receive?

• Does my offer include bonus, commission or equity compensation?

• What happens to my benefits?

• Am I being asked to sign away legal rights?

• Can the company rely on my employment contract to limit my package?

• Do Ontario mass-termination rules apply?

• What if I worked remotely for OpenText from Ontario?

These are not questions employees should answer by relying only on the termination letter. A severance offer is often written from the employer’s perspective. It may not reflect the full amount a non-union employee could be owed.

Our guide to severance pay in Ontario explains why the first offer is not always the final word.

Does Ontario employment law apply to OpenText employees?

For many OpenText employees working in Ontario, provincial employment law will apply. That usually means the employee’s minimum rights are governed by Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000.

The Ontario government’s Employment Standards Act policy manual explains the province’s rules for termination and severance of employment.

However, statutory minimums are only the starting point. Many non-union employees may be entitled to more than the minimum termination pay and severance pay set out in employment standards legislation, unless they signed an enforceable employment contract that validly limits their entitlements.

That is why OpenText employees should obtain legal advice before signing a release.

Termination pay, severance pay and common-law notice are different

Employees often use the word “severance” to describe the entire termination package. Legally, a package may include several different categories of compensation.

1. Termination pay

Termination pay is pay instead of notice of termination. In Ontario, employees who have been continuously employed for at least three months may be entitled to minimum written notice or pay instead of notice.

2. Statutory severance pay

Statutory severance pay is separate from termination pay. In Ontario, employees may qualify for statutory severance pay if they have five or more years of employment and the employer meets the applicable payroll or business-discontinuance threshold.

For a large technology company, the payroll threshold may be an important issue. Employees with five or more years of service should not assume that the amount labelled “severance” in their offer is automatically correct.

3. Common-law reasonable notice

Common-law reasonable notice can be much more significant than statutory minimums.

For non-union employees, reasonable notice is assessed using factors such as the employee’s age, length of service, position, compensation and the availability of comparable employment. These factors come from the well-known Ontario decision commonly referred to as the Bardal factors.

For technology employees, the availability of comparable work can be especially important. A software engineer, senior analyst, product lead, cloud specialist, cybersecurity professional, sales leader or long-service manager may need time to find comparable work in a changing technology market.

Our page on wrongful dismissal and reasonable notice explains how common-law damages may be assessed.

OpenText employees should check bonus, commission and equity rights

Technology employees often receive compensation beyond base salary. An OpenText termination package may need to account for:

• annual bonus plans;

• sales commissions;

• restricted share units or other equity-linked compensation;

• deferred compensation;

• benefits;

• pension or retirement contributions;

• car allowance or technology allowance;

• vacation pay;

• expense reimbursements; and

• other incentive compensation.

Employees should not assume that a bonus, commission or equity plan ends automatically on the termination date. The wording of the plan and the employment contract matters.

The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Matthews v. Ocean Nutrition Canada Ltd. is an important reminder that incentive compensation can sometimes form part of wrongful dismissal damages if it would have been earned during the reasonable notice period and the plan language does not clearly remove that entitlement.

If your OpenText offer excludes bonus, commission or equity compensation, speak with an employment lawyer about bonus and commission rights after termination.

What if OpenText says the job loss was part of a restructuring?

A restructuring does not eliminate an employee’s termination rights.

Employers are generally allowed to reorganize their business, reduce headcount or eliminate roles for business reasons. But if a non-union employee is dismissed without cause, the employer must still provide the employee with the compensation required by the employment contract, employment standards legislation and, where applicable, common law.

Words such as “restructuring,” “realignment,” “business optimization,” “cost reduction” or “role elimination” do not automatically reduce an employee’s entitlements.

If the termination is without cause, the legal focus is usually the value of the employee’s notice and severance rights, not whether the employer had a business reason for making cuts.

Could Ontario mass-termination rules apply?

Ontario has special rules when an employer terminates 50 or more employees at an establishment within a four-week period.

The Ontario Ministry of Labour’s Form 1 notice page explains that employers terminating 50 or more employees at an establishment in a four-week period must submit Form 1 to the Director of Employment Standards, post a copy in the workplace and provide a copy to each affected employee. The Ministry states that mass-termination notice does not begin until the Director receives the completed Form 1.

For OpenText employees, whether these rules apply depends on the number of Ontario employees terminated, where they were assigned, how the employer defines the “establishment,” and whether the terminations occurred within the relevant time period.

This issue can be especially important for remote and hybrid employees. Ontario employment standards rules may treat some remote workers as part of an establishment depending on the facts.

Learn more in our guide to mass layoffs and group terminations in Ontario.

What should OpenText employees do before signing?

Before signing a termination package, OpenText employees should gather and review:

• the termination letter;

• the severance offer;

• the release;

• the original employment agreement;

• any updated employment contract or promotion letter;

• bonus, commission or equity plan documents;

• recent pay statements;

• benefits information;

• vacation records;

• stock or equity account documents; and

• written communications about the layoff or restructuring.

Do not rely only on the deadline in the termination letter. Employees are often given short deadlines to accept a severance offer, but that does not mean the offer is legally complete or that there is no room to negotiate.

Our page on what to do before signing a severance package explains the documents employees should keep and the risks of signing too quickly.

Common issues in OpenText severance packages

Every package depends on the employee’s role, service, contract and compensation. However, technology employees should pay particular attention to whether the package:

• limits compensation to Employment Standards Act minimums;

• stops benefits too early;

• excludes bonus or commission compensation;

• ignores equity or deferred compensation rights;

• requires a broad release;

• contains restrictive covenants;

• imposes non-disparagement or confidentiality obligations;

• asks the employee to confirm they have no further claims;

• gives the employer discretion over salary continuance; or

• requires repayment or forfeiture of compensation.

Some employees may also be asked to comply with post-employment restrictions, including confidentiality, intellectual property, non-solicitation or non-competition language. Ontario generally restricts non-compete agreements, but other post-employment obligations can still matter.

Speak with an employment contract and termination lawyer if your package includes ongoing obligations after your employment ends.

What if you worked remotely for OpenText from Ontario?

Remote work can complicate a severance assessment.

An employee may work from Ontario while reporting to a manager in another province or country. The employer may be headquartered in Ontario, incorporated elsewhere, or administer payroll through a related company. The termination letter may also refer to policies or plans governed by another jurisdiction.

These details matter. A remote Ontario employee should have a lawyer review:

• where the employee actually performed the work;

• which company employed them;

• what law the employment agreement refers to;

• where payroll and benefits were administered;

• whether the employee was assigned to an Ontario establishment; and

• whether the employment contract validly limits termination rights.

Our Ontario tech employee severance lawyers can help assess these issues.

Are unionized OpenText employees treated differently?

This article is for non-union employees.

Unionized employees generally must address layoff, recall, termination and severance issues through their union and collective agreement. If you are covered by a collective agreement, your first step is usually to contact your union representative.

If you are not unionized, you may have individual rights under your employment contract, the Employment Standards Act and common law.

Speak with an Ontario employment lawyer before accepting an OpenText severance offer

If you were laid off by OpenText in Waterloo, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa or elsewhere in Ontario, do not sign your severance package before understanding what it means.

A lawyer can review your employment contract, assess whether the offer complies with minimum standards, determine whether common-law compensation may be available, and advise whether bonus, commission, equity or benefits should be included.

Our firm represents non-union employees in severance reviews, wrongful dismissal claims and termination-package negotiations.

Contact our employment law team to request a consultation before signing your OpenText severance package.

This article provides general information only and is not legal advice. Employment-law entitlements depend on the employee’s contract, role, length of service, compensation, workplace location and other facts.