In order to provide better rights for employees who work remotely, Ontario is seeking to amend the regulations governing mass layoffs.

Labour Minister Monte McNaughton made the announcement in Kitchener, Ontario, which is home to many of the province’s tech jobs, which is a sector that has had a series of mass layoffs.

In order to guarantee that employees who only work from home qualify for the same enhanced notice as “in-office” and other employees in instances of mass termination, McNaughton indicated that the province is seeking to alter employment legislation.

According to the minister, the adjustments would provide remote workers the same minimum of eight weeks’ notice of termination or pay-in-lieu as other workers.

McNaughton says it could elevate how much a worker receives in a layoff by as much as eight times, as the minimum severance pay for an individual layoff is one week, whereas the minimum for a mass layoff is eight weeks.

According to the labour minister, legislation that would expand the definition of an establishment under the Employment Standards Act to include employees’ remote home offices will be introduced.