Ontario Arts Council

Layoff and recall

It is unsettling to feel uncertain about your job’s future.

AMAPCEO has secured strong job security measures in your Collective Agreement. If layoffs do occur, there are provisions including advanced notice, voluntary exits, bumping, severance, and recall rights designed to help lessen the impact. These provisions, along with one-on-one assistance and guidance from your union, are important advantages of being a unionized professional.

As always, if you are experiencing medical or emotional distress, please connect with your medical practitioner or with the Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP).

Bargaining Unit: Ontario Arts Council (OAC)

Collective Agreement Article: 27
First Published: March 9, 2023
Last Updated: March 9, 2023

Layoffs

Your Employer has the authority to manage and direct the workforce, which includes the authority to hire, layoff, and determine organization and staffing levels. If the Employer determines that the work of a position is no longer needed, then a layoff may occur. Layoff decisions must be made based on the work of the position itself, and never the incumbent.

The Employer is required to give your union two weeks’ notice of any planned layoffs. For confidentiality reasons, AMAPCEO is not allowed to share this information, but during this period, union representatives will meet with the Employer to discuss the implementation process for the layoffs and whether there are measures that could be undertaken to avoid or minimize the need for layoffs.

If a position in your salary classification has been identified for layoffs

The Employer must provide at least ten working days’ notice of layoffs to all employees working in the same salary classification level as the positions identified for layoffs.

This allows employees in the same salary classification level who are at a stage in their career where they are considering leaving the OAC or are close to or at retirement to receive an exit package and take the place of a colleague who might otherwise be laid off.

Volunteering to exit

If you would like to take advantage of the voluntary exit option, you must provide notice to the Employer within five days of receiving the advance notice.

Volunteers to exit the OAC will be approved on the basis of seniority up to the numbers required.

If you apply for and are approved for the voluntary exit option, you will receive an exit package.

Employees who are approved to exit voluntarily must do so no more than thirty working days after the acceptance of their voluntary exit offer by the Employer, unless another arrangement is agreed upon.

If your position is identified for layoff

If your position is identified for layoff, the Employer must provide you with written notice a minimum of twelve weeks in advance. Your union should be copied on this notice and wherever possible, the notice should be delivered in person.

It is up to your Employer to determine whether employees affected by layoffs will:

continue working during this twelve-week period;
stop working and be given or a lump-sum equivalent to twelve weeks’ worth of their salary (subject to the usual salary deductions); or
some combination of both of these options.

Next steps

If you receive a written notice of layoff, it is important to consider the next steps that are best for you. These can include bumping, recall rights, or accepting severance.

Read on for more information on these options.

If you have any questions, contact a Workplace Representative.

Bumping

Bumping allows you to displace (or “bump”) a lower-seniority AMAPCEO-represented OAC employee from their permanent home position, if you have the required knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the work of the person being bumped.

If you wish to exercise bumping rights, you must provide your Employer with written notice—including an up-to-date resume—of your intention within five working days of receiving a notice of layoff.

The Employer in turn has five working days to confirm if any bumps are available. If a bump is available, you will have five working days to accept or decline the bump.

If you accept a bump to a position in a lower salary classification, you will still retain your original level of pay for the twelve-week notice period.

You are allowed to turn down an available bump once and still retain recall rights.

If you accept a bump to a lower salary classification level and a position at your former salary classification level becomes available within 12 months, you have the right to be reinstated, provided you have the required knowledge, skills, and ability to perform the available work.

If you do not choose to exercise bumping rights, you will automatically be considered available for recall.

Recall Rights

If you are laid off, you may choose to retain the right to be recalled to the workplace to be re-employed in the same permanent position from which you were laid off, or to any other vacant permanent position within the same or lower salary classifications within twelve months from the date of your layoff. Recall is approved on the basis of seniority.

You are allowed to turn down an available position in a lower salary classification once and still retain the right to recall.

Recall rights continue until:

you twice refuse recall to a position in a lower salary classification level;
you refuse recall to a position in the same salary classification level from which you were laid off; or
twelve months after the date of layoff have passed, whichever comes first.

Within the twelve-month recall period, you are also eligible to apply as an internal applicant for all positions and will be notified of postings via email if you provide the Employer with a current email address.

Severance

If severance is payable to you, it may be paid as a salary continuance or as a lump sum.

If you receive salary continuance, you will receive all insured benefits, except Short Term Sickness Plan (STSP) and Long-Term Income Protection (LTIP), throughout the continuance period. In addition, you and the Employer will continue to make pension contributions.

If you elect to be paid in a lump sum, you will not receive insured benefits or their equivalent monetary value.

Some decisions regarding recall and resignation may affect the administration of your severance. See below for more information.

If you choose to resign within your twelve-week notice period

If you choose to resign within your twelve-week notice period, you will not receive the remaining time in your notice period as pay in lieu, but you will receive your full severance pay entitlement upon resignation.

If you retain the right to recall

If you retain your recall rights, you will receive severance pay equal to one week’s salary for each year of completed service, up to a maximum of twenty-six weeks, payable as salary continuance. Partial years of service will be prorated.

If you are recalled to work during the severance period, you will forgo the balance of your severance as of the date you start working. The remaining severance credits will count in calculating your severance pay in the event of a subsequent layoff.

If you do not retain the right to recall

If you choose not to retain your recall rights, you will receive severance pay equal to two weeks' salary for each year of completed service, up to a maximum of fifty-two weeks. Partial years of service will be pro-rated.

If you do not retain your right to recall but you are re-employed by OAC within a year of layoff, you will forego the balance of your severance as of the date you start working for OAC again.

If you have questions or need assistance

AMAPCEO Workplace Representatives

Please contact an AMAPCEO Workplace Representative in the Ontario Arts Council.

Workplace Representatives are trained union members who have volunteered to confidentially assist members like you in the workplace. They should be your first point of contact in seeking information and representation with an issue at work.

Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP)

EFAP is a free and confidential service available to you and your family 24 hours a day. EFAP offers immediate assistance, including professional counselling, career coaching, financial planning services, and more.