It may. The rule requires one continuous year of employment abroad within the last three years. A documented year without a break is the safest basis; a year interrupted by a formal termination needs an explanation the petition can support.
Continuous means continuous, and the records decide it
Hypothetical example: a Frontenac Islands hay operation's manager has been recalled every spring for six years and issued a record of employment each November. The company's lawyer asks a simple question: in any twelve consecutive months of the last thirty-six, was he employed by the company without interruption? If the answer is yes because, for instance, two winters ago he stayed on to oversee a barn build, that year is the one the petition should rely on, with payroll to prove it.
If every winter shows a termination, the petition must argue that the employment relationship survived the layoff, which is weaker and depends on how the layoffs were papered. The practical alternative is to keep him employed through the coming winter, on winter duties that are genuine, and file once a clean year exists. The company should also confirm the manager's earlier duties were managerial, since a year spent primarily baling would not support an executive or managerial claim abroad.