Can a termination clause in my employment contract limit what I'm entitled to in Ontario?

Yes, a properly drafted termination clause can limit an employee to less than full common law reasonable notice, potentially down to the Employment Standards Act minimum, but Ontario courts scrutinize these clauses closely and will strike them down if they are ambiguous, or if they attempt to contract out of any ESA minimum entitlement in any scenario, even one that only theoretically could arise rather than the actual situation being litigated.

Because the ESA sets a floor that can never legally be reduced, a termination clause that could result in less than the ESA minimum under any circumstance is generally treated as entirely unenforceable, not simply reduced to meet the ESA floor - meaning the employee may end up entitled to full common law notice instead. Courts also apply a strict standard of clarity to this kind of language, generally resolving genuine ambiguity in the employee's favour rather than the employer's. Given how easily these clauses fail in practice, a termination clause should never be assumed enforceable without a careful review of its exact wording by someone familiar with this area.