BioWare Edmonton Closure: Know Your Alberta Severance Rights

If you lose your job because of the BioWare Edmonton closure, you are generally entitled to Alberta’s minimum termination notice or pay, with potentially greater compensation under your employment contract or common law. Your entitlement requires an individual review, even when your dismissal forms part of wider Electronic Arts (EA) layoffs.

If you are among the affected BioWare employees, an offer deadline adds pressure to an already difficult transition. Before accepting, check how your package addresses your service, compensation and employment contract. Your Alberta termination and severance rights continue to apply when your employer closes an office.

Before agreeing or signing anything, read this article to better understand your rights as an employee and how an employment lawyer can help you with your situation.

What Are Employees Owed When an Office Closes?

You are entitled to applicable termination notice or compensation when a closure ends your employment without cause, subject to statutory exceptions. Your Alberta employment standards entitlement provides a minimum; your contract and common law determine whether additional compensation is owed.

Why a Closure Usually Means Termination Without Cause

If your position disappears because your office closes, your dismissal is normally a termination without cause. A business decision to discontinue operations does not establish misconduct on your part.

You should check whether your letter gives working notice, ends your employment immediately with pay in lieu of notice, or combines both. If you receive working notice, review whether your regular pay and employment conditions continue during that period.

If your paperwork describes a “temporary layoff” despite a permanent closure, obtain advice about its legal effect. Your rights turn on the substance of the arrangement and the authority for placing you on layoff.

What Are Alberta’s Minimum Notice and Termination Pay Requirements?

If you have worked for more than 90 days and no exception applies, your minimum employer notice under Alberta’s Employment Standards Code follows this schedule:

• More than 90 days but less than two years: one week.
• Two years but less than four years: two weeks.
• Four years but less than six years: four weeks.
• Six years but less than eight years: five weeks.
• Eight years but less than 10 years: six weeks.
• 10 years or more: eight weeks.

Your calculation requires attention to your regular wages and the statutory calculation rules, especially if your earnings fluctuate. You should account separately for unpaid wages and accrued vacation pay.

Tip: When reviewing termination notice, termination pay and severance pay, it’s highly recommended to seek the advice of an employment lawyer who can evaluate your specific situation.

How Does Common Law Reasonable Notice Differ From Statutory Minimums?

You have a potential entitlement to common law reasonable notice if an enforceable agreement does not validly limit it. Your reasonable notice period is assessed individually and can exceed the statutory schedule substantially.

Your statutory entitlement is credited within your total notice compensation. You should avoid adding statutory weeks to a common law assessment as though they automatically create separate awards.

Your compensation assessment also extends beyond base salary. Depending on your employment terms, it includes benefits and incentive compensation you would have received during the applicable notice period.

How Much Severance Could You Receive?

Your severance assessment starts with your enforceable contract and, where common law applies, the notice period appropriate to your employment circumstances. For specialised game development work, the availability of comparable employment deserves particular attention.

How Do the Bardal Factors Affect Reasonable Notice?

You will hear lawyers refer to the Bardal factors, the established considerations used to assess reasonable notice. Your assessment examines:

• Your length of service.
• Your age when dismissed.
• The character of your employment, including your responsibilities.
• The availability of similar work suited to your experience, training and qualifications.

Your role in the video game industry deserves a specific assessment. If your experience centres on a specialised engine or production discipline, your comparable job opportunities require closer examination than a general count of technology vacancies.

Note: You should preserve evidence of suitable openings, location requirements and compensation ranges. A remote role requiring relocation, substantially lower pay or a different skill set needs careful evaluation before being treated as comparable employment.

How Employment Contracts and Comparable Job Opportunities Affect Entitlements

Your termination clause requires review for compliance with Alberta employment law and enforceability. A valid clause can limit your entitlement to statutory minimums or another contractual amount; an unenforceable clause leaves room for common law reasonable notice.

You should gather your original offer and later agreements, including documents signed after promotions or transfers. If you worked under a fixed-term contract, obtain specific advice about its termination language and remaining term.

When pursuing reasonable notice compensation in Edmonton, you must take reasonable steps to find suitable replacement employment. Keep a dated record of applications, interviews and responses; replacement earnings during the notice period generally reduce common law damages.

You should have any internal transfer offer reviewed before declining it. Its effect on mitigation requires a fact-specific assessment of the proposed work, compensation and surrounding circumstances.

Have Your Severance Reviewed Before You Sign

You should have your severance package reviewed before signing a release that settles your employment claims. Your immediate priority is to establish what you are already owed and what additional rights you would surrender.

For a useful review, prepare the following:

• Your compensation records: Gather salary details, benefit information, bonus terms and equity-plan documents, including vesting and expiry provisions.
• Your unpaid earnings: Identify outstanding wages, vacation pay and reimbursable expenses separately from the proposed settlement.
• Your release and payment terms: Check which claims you would release, payment dates, benefit end dates, confidentiality terms and any repayment obligations.
• Your evidence: Preserve your contract, amendments and termination correspondence lawfully. Leave confidential studio files and proprietary code with your employer.

Your statutory minimum entitlements remain payable without a release. If your offer deadline arrives before you obtain advice, request an extension in writing.

With Taylor Janis Workplace Law, you have access to an employee-side firm serving Alberta and BC, with an Edmonton office. You can obtain advice on package negotiations, wrongful or constructive dismissal, group terminations and post-acquisition employment changes. Before signing, arrange an Edmonton severance package review and provide your offer, contract and compensation records for the consultation.

Disclaimer: This article provides general information about Canadian employment law and is not legal advice. Every case depends on its own facts. Please consult a qualified employment lawyer about your specific situation.