Can an employer contract out of the common law reasonable notice period?

The appellant also points out that there is a clause in the employment contract that says, “Your original hire date of June 7, 2004 will be recognized as your start date for the calculation of your years of service, vacation entitlement and heath care benefits under this agreement.” The appellant argues that this clause means that the length of the reasonable notice period at common law should not be calculated with regard to the period of time prior to June 7, 2004, when the respondent acted as a dependent contractor. We disagree. Years of service may be used for any number of purposes that do not relate to an employee's rights on termination. If an employer wishes to contract out of the common law reasonable notice period, the contract must clearly specify another period of notice: Wood, at para. 15, citing Machtinger v. HOJ Industries Ltd., 1992 CanLII 102 (SCC), [1992] 1 S.C.R. 986, at p. 998. This contract did not contain the type of clear language that would be needed to contract out of that notice.