Sale of business provision (employment standards)

The concept is described more broadly under successor employer. This entry is about the sections themselves, because their conditions differ. A buyer reads the one for the province where the employees work, as set out in the employment standards act there.

How three provinces word it

• Ontario ESA s.9(1): if an employer sells a business or part of one and the purchaser employs an employee of the seller, employment is deemed not terminated. Section 9(2) disapplies it for a hire more than 13 weeks after the earlier of the employee’s last day with the seller and the day of the sale, and s.9(3) says “sells” includes leases, transfers or other disposals
• British Columbia ESA s.97: if all or part of a business is disposed of, or continues under a receiver or receiver-manager, employment is deemed continuous and uninterrupted
• Alberta Employment Standards Code s.5: employment is deemed continuous and uninterrupted when a business, undertaking or other activity or part of it is sold, leased, transferred or merged, or continues under a receiver or receiver-manager

Ontario’s section turns on the purchaser employing the person, while the other two are worded around the business changing hands. Other provinces have their own wording. How this plays out for years of service is covered in does a buyer inherit employees’ years of service.