Employee or Independent Contractor? The Effect of Bill 148

people sitting on a subway trainOne Bill 148 amendment that could hit businesses hard is the tightening of the law around who is an employee. In the event of a misclassification — an independent contractor who should be classified as an employee — the onus is now on the business to prove the individual is NOT an employee.

Why Use Independent Contractors vs. Employees and What’s the Difference?

Often businesses use a blend of workers. Employees can be hired for either fixed or indefinite terms, and independent contractors or consultants can be retained to provide services on a specific project without becoming employees. There are practical differences between these two categories for the worker and the business. The following chart highlights some of them.

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Bill 148 Infographic

The infographic below highlights some of the key points of Bill 148. For a detailed explanation, please see our previous post entitled Everything you ever wanted to know about Bill 148 but were too afraid to ask, or any of our posts on the topic of Bill 148.    

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Everything you ever wanted to know about Bill 148 but were too afraid to ask

the number 148 in a green circleOver the past year we have spent a lot of time thinking, writing, presenting and advising on Bill 148. As Toronto employment lawyers the Ontario employment laws are our bread and butter. Bill 148 overhauled many aspects of the laws we work with every day. This post provides an overview of some of the most significant changes and directs you to resources elsewhere on our blog and our site to help you navigate the changing legal landscape of your workplace.

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Public Holiday Pay Change

wood frame chair with orange striped fabric on a sandy beachThe first reversal of a Bill 148 change is on the horizon. On May 7, 2018, the Ontario government announced it will be reviewing the Bill 148 change to how public holiday pay is calculated. The new way of calculating public holiday pay has reportedly generated the most complaints of any of the Bill 148 changes to the Employment Standards Act, 2000.

The new O. Reg. 375/18 comes into force on July 1, 2018. It reverts the public holiday pay formula to the pre-Bill 148 version. This reversion is temporary and O. Reg. 375/18 will be revoked on December 31, 2019. This will allow the Ministry of Labour time to complete their review of public holiday pay and likely means that we can expect further changes.

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Equal Pay for Equal Work Now in Force

hand with pen drawing a dollar sign in note bookOn April 1, 2018 Equal Pay for Equal Work, the new section 42 of the Employment Standards Act (ESA) came into force. This was a Bill 148 amendment. You can read more about the big changes Bill 148 has made to the Ontario employment landscape in our previous posts on this topic.  

Equal Pay for Equal work expands pay equity from pay equity on the basis of sex, to pay equity on the basis of employment status.

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Personal Emergency Leave for Short-Term Workers

black and white image of a medical stethoscopeToday we will address another in our series of Bill 148 client questions. Over the last two weeks, we have tackled questions related to the new vacation entitlements and entitlements of salaried workers to the Three Hour Rule. This weeks’ question addresses one of the most talked about changes in the Employment Standards Act Personal Emergency Leave. For a more in depth look at Personal Emergency Leave check out our post from January.

We designed our Bill 148 webinar series to help our employer clients get acquainted with the significant changes introduced by the Bill 148 amendments. We will also be shortly issuing an Employer’s Guide to Bill 148, an ebook which will cover these changes in depth.

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