10.03. Prior notice: The employer must give written notice to an employee before terminating his contract of employment or laying him off for 6 months or more.
The notice shall be of 1 week if the employee is credited with less than 1 year of uninterrupted service, 2 weeks if he is credited with 1 year to 5 years of uninterrupted service, 4 weeks if he is credited with 5 years to 10 years of uninterrupted service and 8 weeks if he is credited with 10 years or more of uninterrupted service.
A notice of termination of employment given to an employee during the period when he is laid off is null, except in the case of employment that usually lasts for not more than 6 months each year due to the influence of the seasons.
This section does not apply to an employee:(1) who has less than 3 months of uninterrupted service;
(2) whose contract for a fixed term or for a specific undertaking expires;
(3) who has committed a serious fault;
(4) for whom the end of the contract of employment or the layoff is a result of a fortuitous event.
An employer who does not give the notice prescribed by this section, or who gives insufficient notice, must pay the employee a compensatory indemnity equal to his regular wage excluding overtime for a period equal to the period or remaining period of notice to which he was entitled.
The indemnity must be paid at the time the employment is terminated or at the time the employee is laid off for a period expected to last more than 6 months, or at the end of a period of 6 months after a layoff of indeterminate length, or a layoff expected to last less than 6 months but which exceeds that period.
O.C. 660-82, s. 7; Erratum, 1982 G.O. 2, 2091; O.C. 144-92, s. 6; O.C. 1127-94, s. 6.