Stellantis has cancelled three more weeks of production at Windsor Assembly Plant. Unifor Local 444 said on 2 October 2026 that the plant will be idle for the weeks of 19 October, 26 October and 2 November, affecting more than 6,400 workers. They are only now returning from a two-week layoff, so they get roughly two weeks of work before the next shutdown. Stellantis blamed consumer demand and tariffs. The plant builds the Chrysler Pacifica and the Dodge Charger.
Updated October 2026
The assembly workers are union members, and their collective agreement decides how the layoff works. The people with less certainty are the non-union employees at the Windsor-area parts suppliers, logistics firms and service companies that idle when the plant does: office staff, supervisors, engineers and plant workers at shops without a union. This article explains how the Employment Standards Act, 2000 counts repeated layoff weeks, when a layoff turns into a termination, and when being laid off can be a dismissal in its own right. It ends with a short section for employers running these layoffs.
If you are not in a union, your employer can lay you off only if your contract allows it, expressly or through an established practice you accepted. If it does not, the layoff can be a constructive dismissal now.
Even a layoff your contract allows has limits. The ESA caps a temporary layoff at 13 weeks in any 20, or up to 35 weeks in 52 if benefits or other payments continue, and separate shutdowns count toward the same total. Go past the limit and the law treats you as terminated on the first day of the layoff, with termination pay and possibly severance owed.
What has been announced
| Point | What has been reported |
|---|---|
| Production cancelled | Weeks of 19 October, 26 October and 2 November 2026 at Windsor Assembly Plant, announced by Unifor Local 444 on 2 October. |
| Workers affected | More than 6,400 at the plant. Suppliers that build to the plant’s schedule are affected as well. |
| Recent history | Workers are returning from a two-week layoff and will work about two weeks before the next shutdown. |
| Reason given | Consumer demand and tariffs, according to Stellantis. |
| Contract talks | Unifor’s agreement with Stellantis, covering about 9,000 Canadian workers, expired on 20 September with no deal. Talks broke down on 11 September over Stellantis’ plan to close the Brampton plant and sell it to Roshel. Unifor says it will not settle without a fix for Local 1285 members in Brampton. |
| Strike timing | As of the last reports on 25 September, no talks were scheduled. We have seen no report of a no-board notice or a strike vote since then. |
The fork: union or not
Not in a union
- A layoff is only lawful if your contract, expressly or by an established practice you accepted, allows it.
- If it does not, the layoff can be a constructive dismissal, entitling you to reasonable notice.
- If it does, the ESA still caps how long the layoff can last.
- Repeated short shutdowns add up toward that cap.
In a union
- The collective agreement sets layoff, recall and any supplementary benefits. The union enforces it.
- We do not take grievances. Your union does that work at no cost to you.
- Where layoff or recall decisions touch a protected ground, you can go to the Human Rights Tribunal in your own name.
- Our article on layoffs in unionized workplaces covers the union side.
How the ESA counts layoff weeks
Under the Employment Standards Act, 2000, a layoff is temporary only if it stays within one of two limits:
- 13 weeks in any 20 consecutive weeks, or
- up to 35 weeks in any 52 consecutive weeks, but only where a condition is met. The conditions include the employer continuing contributions to a pension or group benefit plan, making substantial payments to you, or you receiving supplementary unemployment benefits, as well as a recall within a time set by agreement or approved by the Director of Employment Standards.
Two features matter most for supplier staff. First, a week counts as a layoff week when you earn less than half of what you would earn in a regular, non-overtime week. A week where you are called in for a day or two can still count. Second, the windows roll. The two-week layoff that just ended and the three weeks starting 19 October fall inside the same 20-week period, and so would any earlier shutdown that lands in it. Keep your own record of every week you were off or short.
If the layoff goes past the applicable limit, the law treats your employment as having ended on the first day of the layoff. You are then owed termination pay under the ESA, and statutory severance if you have five or more years of service and the employer meets the payroll threshold. A layoff of 35 weeks or more in 52 is also one of the events that triggers statutory severance. Our article on layoff compared with termination sets out the rules in full, and our article on mass layoffs in Ontario covers the group notice rules that apply when 50 or more people are terminated at once.
When the layoff itself is a dismissal
The ESA limits tell you when a layoff becomes a termination under the statute. They do not give an employer the right to lay you off in the first place. At common law, an employer can lay off a non-union employee only if the employment contract allows it. Without that right, a layoff is a fundamental change to the job, and courts have treated it as a constructive dismissal even when the employer followed the ESA and offered recall. In Bevilacqua v. Gracious Living Corporation, 2016 ONSC 4127, the Superior Court reached exactly that result.
The law here is not fully settled, and in the Windsor auto sector it can cut either way. A written layoff clause will usually decide the point. In Taylor v. Salytics Inc., a layoff clause was enforced even though the contract’s for-cause wording failed. Without a written clause, an employer may argue that layoffs tied to the assembly plant’s schedule were an implied term, especially where you have been through several and accepted them. How strong that argument is depends on what you were told when you were hired, what the employer did in past shutdowns, and how you responded. That is a fact-by-fact question, and it is why the contract and your history with the employer matter more than the headline.
If you do have a claim, the timing of recall matters. Courts expect a dismissed employee to mitigate, and going back to the same employer can be part of that. In Bevilacqua, the employee proved constructive dismissal but his damages were reduced to three months because he turned down a reasonable recall. Our article on the duty to mitigate explains how this works.
Read the contract first
Whether it allows a layoff decides whether you have a claim now or only when the ESA limits run out.
Count every week
Short shutdowns and short weeks add up across a rolling window.
Do not resign
Quitting in frustration can cost you the claim. Get advice first.
Think before refusing recall
Refusing a reasonable recall can reduce what a court awards.
If Unifor and Stellantis reach a strike
Ontario’s Labour Relations Act, 1995 does not allow a legal strike until conciliation has finished. Once the Minister of Labour issues a notice that no conciliation board will be appointed, the union can strike 17 days later. As of the last reports, that had not happened. A strike at Stellantis would idle supplier plants again, and that changes the counting. The ESA does not treat a week as a layoff week if you were not given work because of a strike or lock-out at your workplace or elsewhere. Weeks lost to a Stellantis strike would not count toward the 13-week limit, so the clock described above would effectively pause. Whether your contract allows the layoff at all is a separate question that a strike does not answer.
For Windsor-area employers
Suppliers running a second or third round of temporary layoffs should check three things. Does each non-union employee’s contract allow layoffs? If not, a layoff can trigger a constructive dismissal claim no matter how short it is. Where is each employee against the 13-in-20 and 35-in-52 limits, counting every short week? And would continuing benefit contributions during the layoff extend the period to 35 weeks? Written layoff notices with an expected recall date help, and a layoff that turns into terminations for 50 or more people at one establishment brings in the mass termination rules. Our employee terminations and layoffs lawyers advise manufacturers on running layoffs without turning them into terminations.
Where this stands, 5 October 2026
Unifor Local 444 said on 2 October 2026 that Windsor Assembly Plant will be idle for the weeks of 19 October, 26 October and 2 November, after a two-week layoff that is just ending. Stellantis cites consumer demand and tariffs. The national contract expired on 20 September without a deal, the Brampton plant’s future is the main dispute, and no no-board notice or strike vote had been reported. Federal officials have warned they may try to recover subsidy money if Stellantis breaks its investment commitments. These facts may change quickly.
If you have been laid off because the plant is down
- Find out whether you are in a union. If you are, start with your steward.
- If you are not, find your contract and any offer letter or handbook that mentions layoffs.
- Keep a log of every week you were off or earned less than half your usual pay.
- Ask for the expected recall date in writing.
- Check whether your benefits continue. That can affect how long a layoff can last.
- Apply for EI right away and check your Record of Employment.
- Do not resign, refuse recall or sign a release before you get advice.
Frequently asked questions
Is being laid off because Windsor Assembly is down the same as being fired?
Not automatically. If your contract allows layoffs, a short layoff is lawful and becomes a termination only if it runs past the ESA limits. If your contract does not allow layoffs, expressly or through an established practice you accepted, the layoff itself can be a constructive dismissal at common law, and you may be able to claim reasonable notice now.
How long can a parts supplier keep me on temporary layoff in Ontario?
Under the Employment Standards Act, 2000, a temporary layoff can last up to 13 weeks in any 20 consecutive weeks. It can run to 35 weeks in 52 if certain conditions are met, such as the employer continuing benefit or pension contributions or making substantial payments to you. Past those limits, your employment is treated as terminated on the first day of the layoff.
Do separate shutdowns add up?
Yes. The limits are measured over rolling 20-week and 52-week periods, so a two-week layoff in September and a three-week layoff in October and November both count. Earlier shutdowns this year can count too if they fall inside the same window.
Should I refuse the recall when the plant restarts?
Usually not without advice. Even where a layoff was a constructive dismissal, courts expect you to mitigate your losses, and returning to the same employer can be part of that. In Bevilacqua v. Gracious Living Corporation, 2016 ONSC 4127, the employee won on constructive dismissal but his damages were cut to three months because he refused a reasonable recall.
I work at Windsor Assembly and I am in Unifor. Does this apply to me?
No. Stellantis production workers are covered by the collective agreement, which sets the layoff, recall and supplementary benefit rules, and Unifor Local 444 enforces them. The common-law constructive dismissal route described here is for non-union employees. Achkar Law acts for unionized employees on human rights matters only.
What happens if Unifor goes on strike?
A legal strike in Ontario can only start after conciliation has run its course. Once the Minister of Labour issues a no-board notice, the union can strike 17 days later. A strike at Stellantis would idle supplier plants again. Weeks in which you are not given work because of a strike or lock-out, at your workplace or elsewhere, do not count as layoff weeks under the ESA, so they would not move you closer to the 13-week limit.
How Achkar Law helps
For non-union employees, we start with whether your contract allowed a layoff at all and what a claim would be worth, and we tell you when waiting for recall is the better choice. Our constructive dismissal lawyers handle these claims across Ontario. If you work in Windsor-Essex, see our Windsor employment lawyer page. For unionized employees, we handle human rights claims only. For employers, we review contracts and layoff plans before the next shutdown, not after a claim arrives.
The information in this article is current as of 5 October 2026 and provides general information only. It is not legal advice and should not be relied on as legal advice or opinion. It is based on public reporting of the Windsor Assembly Plant production schedule announced on 2 October 2026 and of the Unifor and Stellantis contract talks. What any individual is entitled to depends on their contract or collective agreement, service and circumstances. This publication is copyrighted by Achkar Law Professional Corporation and may not be reproduced in any form, in whole or in part, without express permission.
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