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What is Reasonable Notice

Current Last reviewed 2026-10-16

Summary

Reasonable notice of termination is the communication to an employee that the employment relationship will end on a specified future date. Its purpose is to give the employee time to arrange their affairs and find comparable work — not to provide payment.

General Principles

Notice of termination is the communication to an employee that the employment relationship will end on a specified future date.1 Notice is the provision of information, not of financial compensation.2

The purpose of notice is to provide the employee with a reasonable period of time to arrange their personal affairs3 and to search for comparable employment without incurring economic loss.4 The purpose of notice is not to provide payment to the employee.5

  1. Deputat v Edmonton School District No 7, 2008 ABCA 13, at para. 9. ↩
  2. Deputat v Edmonton School District No 7, 2008 ABCA 13, at para. 9. ↩
  3. Evans v Teamsters Local Union No 31, 2008 SCC 20, at para. 28. ↩
  4. Farber v Royal Trust Co, [1997] 1 SCR 846, at para. 48. ↩
  5. Deputat v Edmonton School District No 7, 2008 ABCA 13, at para. 11. ↩