Could Elon Musk’s Twitter layoffs violate Canadian law? Experts weigh in

Law experts say Twitter layoffs would violate Canadian employment law.

As Twitter begins its global layoffs, Canadian law experts say the moves would violate Canadian and Ontario laws depending on the wording of employee contracts and whether Canadian employees are given sufficient notice or severance pay.

Musk is looking to cut around 3,700 Twitter staff, or about half the workforce, as he seeks to slash costs and impose a demanding new work ethic, according to internal plans reviewed by Reuters this week.

The Canadian Press also reported that Paul Burns, managing director of the company’s Canadian operations, and Michele Austin, Twitter’s director of public policy for the U.S. and Canada, announced their departures from the San Francisco-based tech giant on social media on Friday.

Amid the cuts, Twitter is facing questions over whether the layoffs could fall afoul of labour laws.

While an employer always has the right to terminate an employee if proper notice or severance is given. Notice and severance will vary depending on the employee’s role and experience. A mass layoff of a workforce is different. In general, layoffs are governed by the employment contract and layoff clauses will appear in contracts where layoffs are more likely, for example, the auto industry. Otherwise, says Muneeza Sheikh, a lawyer and senior partner at Levitt Sheikh, an employment and labour law firm in Toronto, “the right to layoff is not automatic.”

READ MORE: Musk’s Twitter takeover: Some Canadian professionals thinking of quitting platform. Why?

“What a lot of employers don’t know, and I’m hoping Twitter knows, is that ultimately, in order to render a lawful layoff, you have to have an employment contract or agreement that gives you as an employer the right to layoff,” said Sheikh.

The founder of Toronto-based Smith Employment Law, Waheeda Ekhlas Smith, says she doesn’t know if Twitter has given notice that they were about to do these mass layoffs “because of the fact that it seems like it came out of the blue.” But the Canada Labour Code does have termination rules in place that employers of companies like Twitter need to be aware of.