This issue is dealt with within the Employment Standards Act (ESA) of Ontario. It is the Continuity of Employment provision, which ensures that employees retain certain rights when: the business the employee works for is sold or transferred in any other way to a new owner;and the employee continues to work in the business for the new owner.Most employees are entitled to earn such rights as vacations, pregnancy and parental leaves, termination and severance pay. The continuity of employment provisions provide that a person’s length of employment with the seller of a business is attributed, or “flows through” to the purchaser of the business. This means that an employee’s entitlements of rights that are based on length of employment are unchanged, despite the sale of the business.Furthermore, the new owner must ensure that vacation monies are paid based on what is owed to the employee from the previous employer.In the case of pregnancy leave or parental leave, a woman must have started her employment at least 13 weeks before the date her baby is expected to be born. If the sale of the business occurred during those 13 weeks, the new owner must respect that the employee is entitled to pregnancy/parental leave.When a person’s employment is going to be terminated by an employer, the employee is usually entitled to receive either written notice of termination, termination pay or a combination of both. The length of notice or the amount of termination pay depends on how long the person has been employed.The new owner must respect this.Case 1:Stephanie is pregnant. She has worked for a dentist for four years. The dental practice is sold and Stephanie starts working for the new owner. The sale occurred four weeks before Stephanie’s due date. Stephanie’s employment with the old business owner is deemed to be employment with the new owner. She is considered to have started her employment four years and four weeks before the baby is due and therefore she qualifies for pregnancy leave.Case 2:Jane has been employed by We Care Dental for 10 years when the business is sold. The new owner continues to employ Jane. Six months after purchasing the business, the new owner decides that he has too many staff and wishes to downsize. Jane’s employment is terminated.Jane’s length of employment with the business has been attributed to the new owner. Since she has been employed with the business for 10 years, she is entitled to receive the maximum period of written notice or pay in lieu of notice required under the ESA, in this case eight weeks.Severance pay is only legally required when the employer has more than 50 employees and/or the employer’s payroll is greater than $2.5 million.Employment contracts may mean that some of these rights have been re-negotiated. Contracts should be fully understood prior to agreeing to them. Caution should be exercised to ensure that basic rights are adhered to.